Hiding
by Caramia S. Cesiyess
Summary: A day and a year after I published it-here it is, the complete Hiding- Rogue and Remy barely escape with their lives. Rogue finds somethings about her past.
1. At school

Disclaimer: Believe it or not, I do not own the X-men. The characters, and all that other great copywritted stuff is not mine and I don't claim to own any of it. I'm just writing for my entertainment and yours'. Please review: good or bad. Tell me what I can improve on!  
THANX FOR READIN'!  
  
  
I have grown used to the supernatural. In this house that I live in there are girls that can transform into animals, read minds, and boys that can shoot ice through their fingertips, or create weapons of destruction with a thought.  
We are what mankind has evolved into.  
Mutants. Forced to hide lest the non-evolved find and crucify us.  
Everyday we are reminded to hide behind our normal faces and normal lives. Those of us who can't live in the mansion. Forced to hide, always forced to hide.  
My mutation? To touch me is to die. My first dance, first kiss meant leaving a boy in a coma for three weeks.  
I hide behind heavy makeup, clothing that covers my entire body, and a cynical attitude toward the world.  
Sooner or later they will find out that we've been hiding, and they will search us all out.  
Where will we hide then?  
  
  
Buzz Buzz Buzz and she gets out of her bed fumbling to separate from the tangled sheets. She manages to pull herself through and sits on the edge, only to fall back onto her stack of comfortable pillows.  
This is something she shares with every other teenager of the world, both mutant and norm: she will resist getting up, and she will ignore that snooze button.  
As the girl begins to fall back into her dreamland a pillow smacks her upside the head.  
"Like, get up, Rogue. You know how Scott gets if we're late."  
The boys make up more then half of the population of the Institute and yet only the girls have to partner up and share rooms, the Rogue thinks to herself.  
As she runs a hand through her hair she notes how long it has gotten. Ororo will have to cut it soon. Maybe not, maybe she'll leave it long. Who knows? Who cares?  
Rogue reaches under her bed and pulls out the box that has her outfit in it. She reaches out her hand and pulls back the sheet hanging on the string. Clever idea, she installed it last week for privacy reasons.  
As she pulls the leather body suit on she really regrets leaving the brotherhood. No tight suits at 4 o'clock in the morning over there. But on the other hand there was never any clean clothes, breakfast, food or necessities in general.   
The bodysuit is a small sacrifice for acceptance.  
Finally the full ensemble is on and she leaves the room.  
The hallway is bright and Rogue stumbles along the corridor.  
A puff of smoke and the heavy smell of sulfur alert her that Kurt has just landed in front of her.  
"Good morning." He says in his German accent.  
"Mornin'." Her eyes start to adjust and she squints at him. He smiles and offers a three-fingered hand out to her.  
"C'mon, ve'll be late."  
She nods and slips her gloved hand into his furry one and the two disappear with a cloud of smoke.  
The girl, Shadowcat quickly runs out of her room and runs down the hall to catch up with her teammates.  
  
  
The soreness in her neck only increased as she listened to her math teacher. Rogue rubbed at the base of her neck and moved her head from side to side.  
'Scott didn't need to push me down so hard.' She thought. Though training sessions did make her faster, it was hard to concentrate on any school subject while trying to ignore the many bumps and bruises that came with being an X-man.  
But for now she had to struggle through the ten minutes left of school for the week.  
She sighed, and pinched her arm, trying to focus on another pain other then the one in her neck.  
  
The schedule that he had gotten from the lady in the office said that he was supposed to be in math this hour. He had gotten one good look at that yawning class and decided it could wait until Monday.  
This would be the beginning of a new day for him. No more being chased by the police, no stealing, no more moving around until he didn't know where he was.  
Smoking had yet to be decided, but from here on in he would be a different man.  
According to the clock there was only a few minutes left of classes.  
The teen reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and stared at the vast amount of nothing that was therein.  
Yes sir, a whole different man...starting on Monday.  
  
  
She told Scott and the other X-men she would walk home with one of her friends. This was allowed after she swore to Scott that the girl would not be coming back to the Institute.  
It happens one time and everybody freaks out. Go figure.  
The girl, a new French student, was having problems finding her way around town and Rogue, feeling pity for the small French girl, decided to help out this once.  
As they walked past the stores of the main street of Bayville the girl, Janeece, made comments in French.  
"So...ah' have you ever been to the U.S before?"  
The petite girl smiled at her and shook her head.  
"Ah, no, my mama can not stand leaving France. We move here after my papa was transferred for job."  
Rogue nodded. A picture of her foster-parents came to mind and she had a sudden pain in her gut. No matter how bad they argued, she would still consider them her parents.  
Janeece smiled more as she took a deep breath.  
"The air here! So...so, um, what word? Not smoky?"  
Rogue looked at the girl from the corner of her eyes.  
"Unpolluted?"  
"Oui! Where I lived it was always.... um, po-luuu-ted."  
"Yeah..." the mutant looked around her at all the trees turning yellow and gold here. Now the sun was setting earlier in the afternoon and at only 4 o'clock it was beginning to get dark. The sunset only enhanced the beauty of the trees. Nothing like where she had grown up. Dark all the time, with only beautiful sunsets during the hot summer.  
"Merci...um, Thank you for escorting me home. I would be lost, non?"  
Janeece waved and crossed the street to a two story Victorian house.  
Rogue smiled as she saw who must be her mother and father taking boxes into the house.  
She quickly looked away and clutched her books to her chest. She turned in the direction of the institute and shivered as a small breeze blew through her gossamer green shirt. A paper blew out of her hands and she reached for it.   
As she kneeled down to get it she blew the few strands of white hair out of her eyes. Her glove hand reached for the paper, as another, more masculine hand touched it.  
Rogue looked up and saw a boy looking at her. He handed her the paper and offered her a hand up.  
After a second of hesitation and a mental reassurance that the gloves would protect the boy's hand she took it.  
"Thanks." She stuffed the paper back with her books and turned away.  
"Welcome, Cherie..."  
  
  
"Man, that pass was awesome, Duncan. How do you do it, man?"  
The football player just flicked a strand of blond hair away from his forehead and smirked. Ah, to put into words what it is like to be a god...  
"It was nothing for Duncan..." a girl in a cheerleading outfit said as she smiled up at the quarterback, " he can do anything."  
He winked at her.  
The group of football players, cheerleaders, and other mindless jocks (AN: I have nothing against jocks, but in the series they are portrayed as stupid, valley-people, I'm only trying to stick with the characterization) made their way down Main Street to the nearest restaurant. They were of course, celebrating Duncan from an incredible move during last hour Phys. Ed were he had managed to score a touchdown while taking down and severely bruising a freshman.  
"Like I told the coach when the nurse was dragging that guy away: ' You can't get in the way of a force like me. You'll get hurt.'"  
Some more girls swooned at the comment and the other guys just laughed.  
Duncan smiled more and turned the corner. Books, papers, gym shorts, ect went flying as Rogue fell to the ground.  
The greatest-thing-that-ever-attended-Bayville-High blushed crimson as he pulled his jock strap off of his shoulder. He glared down at the girl that was glaring up at him.  
"Why don't you watch where you're goin'?" the two cried in unison.  
A couple of the football players picked up Duncan's clothes and stuffed them into a bag. The four or five cheerleaders looked down at the mutant trying to reach for her papers.  
"Like, when a person like Duncan comes walkin' down the street, you had better know it, and you had, like, better move." A blond tossed her hair over her shoulder.  
"For real, "said another, "Especially when you wear clothes like that."  
The girls and guys laughed.  
Rogue picked up her books, glared at them and put her hand on her hips.  
"Don' worry, sugah. I guess I shouldn't expect all of you with a combined I.Q. of 70 to watch out for things while you walk. I mean, it must hard enough on you to talk and walk at the same time."  
She glared at them all one time and then brushed past them.  
The Rogue didn't get more then five feet when she felt a hand grab her arm and throw her back against the brick wall of an alley way.  
Any adult that might have wanted to stop it were conveniently out of sight.  
Duncan grabbed her by her upper arms and pushed her harder against the wall.  
"Did you just insult me...freak?"  
She snapped her head up and looked him strait in the eyes.   
She smirked, "I'm glad ta' see you were smart enough ta' pick up on that."  
The boy blinked and then turned his head to his group.  
"Bobby. Dave. Take the girls to the restaurant. Joe, Tim, you stay here. We'll meet up with you shortly ladies."  
Two of the cheerleaders smiled and walked off with the boys. The others hesitated a moment before walking away.  
Duncan turned his attention back to the girl he was pinning to the wall.  
"If ya' touch me, you'll be sorry."  
He smiled more and laughed. The boys behind him laughed as well. Duncan leaned in and whispered, just centimeters from her ear:  
"I wouldn't filthy my skin on a freak like you."  
She ground her teeth and struggled against him. When he laughed at he attempt at escape she brought up her knee and kicked him in the groin.  
His arms were down in seconds and she pushed him to the ground. He rolled back and forth with his hands between his legs and she ran down the alley.  
"Get her!" he squeaked in a voice much higher then his normal one.  
Joe and Tim nodded and ran after the girl. The two quickly caught up to her with their longer, and more muscular legs. Joe got ahead of her and pushed her down to the ground. Tim grabbed her arms and held them above her head. Joe grabbed her ankles and held her to the ground.  
Duncan, holding on to the wall for support, made his way over to the three.  
Rogue wasn't very afraid. If they touched her skin they would be the one in pain, not her.  
In a voice still a little too strained for a boy Duncan managed: "Give me that pipe."  
For the first time since this whole situation started Rogue looked worried. 


	2. In Dark Alley Ways

Disclaimer: You know those things that go before all fanfiction, and other fan works? This would be  
another one of those. I don't own nothin'  
  
  
  
Chapter 2  
  
The profesor mentally pushed his wheelchair into the dinning room and looked at his students  
sitting around the table. Growing up as a boy he was taught to never eat unless all the family  
was present. He saw two missing: Kurt and Rogue.  
The former appeared within seconds in a puff of smoke.  
"Sorry I am late, profesor."  
"Forgiven, Kurt." He looked around and saw all the young faces staring at him."As soon  
as Rogue gets here, we can all eat." He smiled and searched out her mind in the mansion. Finding  
nothing in her room, the library, or any room he frowned.  
"Is anything wrong, Profesor?"  
Jean tilted her head and looked worriedly at the man.  
"Hmmm...I can't seem to find Rogue anywhere."  
Scott looked up from his plate. "She said she was walking home with a friend today.  
I thought she had come home already."  
Xavier leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin.  
"I'm going to see if I can find her on Cerebro. You may start eating now if you like."  
The students were all to happy to oblige as the profesor wheeled himself out of   
the room. He was sure Rogue was find and had just forgotten to call. But of course, this was  
Rogue and she never called.   
As the scanner passed over his eye he sighed at all the troubles this girl was.  
Occasionaly she would open up to the team, but for the most part she would stay behind   
the dark clothes and the loud music. He hoped one day the X-men would reach her.  
  
  
The first blow had really sent her mind realing. Duncan had pounded the bar into her  
side with all his might. She was sure that her ribs were broken from the pain that grew every  
time she took a breath.  
The Rogue was also sure of something else: that she would die in that alley.  
She had tried pulling the clothes away from her skin, but the boys held tight to   
the clothed part of her body.  
If they didn't decide to stop, she would be killed in that dark alley way.  
"Ya know..." Duncan rammed the bar on her knee, "I would never do this to a girl."  
He hit her in the arm and then on the side of her abdomen.  
"But I guess you wouldn't qualify, would you?"  
The two teens holding her down laughed as Duncan threw blow after blow to her small  
form.  
For the first time in a long time Rogue let out a whimper. And a tear made it's way  
down her cheek. Blinking didn't keep back the rest of the tears that flowed down her cheek   
and Duncan raised the bar above his head and smiled down at her.  
"Tsk. Tsk. Tears won't do anything now. It's too late for apologies."  
He smiled as he brough his arms back. This would be the last. A hard blow to her head  
would knock her unconscious. And if he were lucky it would teach her never to mess with him  
again. If it didn't? Well, he had no problem teaching this lesson to her again.  
As he brought the bar down he felt eyes watching him.  
He stopped the bar a mere foot from her face and turned around.  
Not seeing anything he picked up the bar again and made to finish his project.  
This time he felt more then just eyes on him. With a flash of light the bar was   
knocked from his hands and the football player was knocked to his back.  
Tim and Joe were soon to follow as a mysterious explosion blasted them into the wall  
behind them. The two fell in a heap, unconscious.  
With a hand on his head Duncan got to his feet and groaned.  
He looked and saw his friends knocked out. There, kneeling by the girl was a boy.  
In one hand he held the girl's hand and in the other was what appeared to be a deck of playing  
cards.  
The new boy kissed the girl's gloved hand and layed it on her stomach.  
"Non, Cherie, do not judge all of us like homme over there."  
The newcomer stood up and faced the confused quarterback.  
"What you done to Cherie over here ain't cool wit' Remy."  
Duncan smiled, "Who's Remy?"  
The boy laughed and reached up for the sunglasses he wore over his eyes. With one   
movement he pulled them off.  
Duncan stepped back and blinked. The boy's eyes were like nothing he had ever seen.  
Black on red. He hopped to God they were contacts, otherwise it was just wrong.  
"I think you have other things to worry about 'den je m'appelle, homme." the boy smirked,  
"you should worry more about runnin'."  
As most egotistical, hard headed teeners had done before him, he let this chance of esape  
pass him.  
"So you can take down two of the weaker members of Bayville's football team. You won't  
be so lucky with me."  
In a mad dash he lifted the bar once more above his head and aimed for the boy's head. To  
the boy Duncan's movement were slow and miscalculated. He easily dodged to his left and let the  
muscular youth stumble.  
The rescuer didn't expect a quick comeback and missed the circular motion Duncan made.  
The pipe landed hard on Remy's side and for just a moment he let the pain show on his face.  
He sucked in a breath of air and then pulled out a few of his cards. One after another he threw  
down at Duncan's feet. Within seconds they started glowing. Duncan, not used to this attack  
only stared at the cards untill it was too late. They exploded and the football star's legs  
were caught up in fire.  
Duncan's hands were running up and down his legs putting out the small fires. His legs were bloodied and  
the jeans he was wearing were singed and clinging to his burnt flesh.  
Quickly he reassesed the situation and turned toward the street.  
Duncan started to dash out of the alley. He ran into trash cans  
and stumbled on pieces of newspaper but made it to the end of the alley. He didn't get a   
chance to get any further. A mysterious Queen of Hearts made it's way in front of him and  
promply exploded. Sending the athletic young man flying into the sidewalk where all that   
waited for him was unconsciousness.  
Remy smiled at his work and turned his attention back to the girl lying on the ground.  
The girl was starting to get bruises on the little patches of exposed skin. He reached out his   
calloused hand to touch her arms when suddenly she grabbed his arm with her covered hand.  
"Don' touch me." her eyes were open, but she was in obvious pain. The threat inher voice was  
shadowed by the raw suffering.  
He frowned at her and put his sunglasses.  
"Calm yourself, ma cherie. Remy only want to help."  
She stared at him and shook her head.  
"Ya' don' understand." she coughed and felt the pain through her ribs. She felt odd  
sensations in her stomach and all over. More then her ribs were broken. Any attempt to move  
her right arm shot pain all through her arm. "People." she winced, "people get hurt when they  
touch me."  
He couldn't help but smile.  
"Remy understand. But he got to get pettite cherie to a hospital."  
Rogue's eyes widened and she turned her head to face him. Using all the muscles she   
had gained while becoming and X-men she lifted herself up into a sitting position.  
Remy was kneeling by her and gently placed his hand on her shoulders. Girls: the could  
never do anything the easy way.  
"I can't got to a hospital." Her Mississippi accent growing stronger as her pain  
and anger increased.  
"Alright, oui. But where Remy gonna take you?"  
"Just help me up and I can make it on my own."  
For his part Remy had had quite a few encounters with girls. One of the best ways to  
get them to do something was to either knock them unconscious or let them believe it was  
their idea.  
He offered the girl his hand and gently lifted her to her feet. Gently wasn't gentle  
enough apparently.  
Rogue clutched her stomach and doubled over. As she stumbled Remy was at her side and  
caught her up in his arms.  
She let her arms go limp and felt the pain turn to a fine, dark cloud that was slowly  
covering her eyes.  
"Please..." she swallowed and let her head roll back, "Xavier...Institute."  
Remy watched as her eyes closed. He leaned his ear down over her lips and felt her breath  
on his ear.  
"Oui, mon pettite. Xavier institue it is." 


	3. Among Family

Disclaimer: You know those things that go before all fanfiction, and other fan works? This would be  
another one of those. I don't own nothin'  
  
  
Not so much Gambit at all in this one. Well, no dialouge, but we will have some Gambi-rific moments  
coming up soon. Let me know how I'm doing! Thanx!  
  
Chapter 3  
  
  
  
The night of the accident was the night that changed the young mans' life forever. He would always remember  
how the car would swerve and fall off the narrow mountain road.  
When he saw his mother and step-father lying in the car, with blood covering their clothes it was too much. He saw  
his then three year old half-brother lying in the back, also not moving. Without knowing what he was doing he let out a  
pyhscic blast. Trees, rocks and anything around him suddenly flew into the air and hovered before falling right back down.  
The car that held his family inside was pushed a few feet along the moutain landscape.  
After a few minutes everything calmed down and the boy fell to the ground. He found that he couldn't control his legs.  
He couldn't even feel them.  
Charles had cried for many minutes that night and finally passed out from exhaustion.  
When the rescue workers had found the car they found the boy huddled by the back door. His brother was lying right by his side.  
It seemed as if the phycic blast was enough to bring him back from death. It was too late for his parents.  
That's why he hates me, Charles thought as he rolled through the halls. He thinks that I could have saved them. But I couldn't.  
Xavier remembered the night of the accident whenever he thought of his brother, or whenver he found himself pushing his wheelchair  
telepathically. To be more precise: he always thought of his lost family.  
He shook his head and tried to focus on the problem at hand: Rogue.  
When she hadn't shown up for dinner, he had logged on to Cerebro. Her mind was extremly difficult to find. But once he had he could   
clearly tell it was going through severe distress.  
The proffesor had sent his leading X-men to her location over ten minutes ago. Cyclops, Shadowcat, and Wolverine took the jeep and had  
headed down to Main Street.  
As he came to a corner he heard the voices of some of his students he came to a stop.  
Even, Jean, and Kurt stared down at him.  
"Professor, what's going on with Rogue?" Evan always was the one to get strait to the point.  
Xavier crossed his hands and leaned his chin on them. "It seems Rogue got into a bit of trouble." the three gasped.  
"She seemed troubled. I couldn't pick up on her thoughts for some reason."  
'Proffesor.'  
Scott was calling out to him. He placed his fingers on his temples and closed his eyes. The young mutants mind reached  
out to his own. He seemed deeply distraught. But why?  
He tried to pick up on Kitty's thoughts but they seemed too frazzled and chaotic to read.  
With Logan it was easy. The man always seemed to be calm and collected. Besides that, the proffesor had known  
him for many years and could easily pick up on anything he was thinking about.  
Now he appeared to be focusing on Rogue...and a boy.  
'What's going on Logan?'  
'It's Rogue. She's beaten up. It's bad.'  
'Was it the Brotherhood?'  
Logan seemed to mentally laugh, "Those clowns couldn't stand up to Rogue. No, we've got the punk that did it   
right with us. We took him down. We can lock him up as soon as we get back.'  
'Wait just a minute... is this boy a mutant?'  
'Yeah, the kid's got a nasty little trick up his sleeves too. I'm already at the gates.'  
'Allright, I'll meet you down in the infirmary in a minute.'  
The proffesor openned his eyes and looked at his pupils." You all, follow me. They are bringing Rogue in."  
  
  
  
When Xavier's gifted youngsters filed into the medical wing of the underground headquarters there was a heavy cloud of suspense  
and anxiety in the room. The proffesor only gathered the entire population of the school if there was  
some serious business to attend to.  
Logan and Ororo were standing off to the side and watching the students as they settled. It was obvious to   
everyone that she was doing everythign in her power to keep from crying.  
The newer, younger students were whispering to themselves about what was going on. Some speculated a  
new set of restrictions, or a new punishment for bad behavior. A few of the girls were talking in   
giggly voices about the posibility of a new, hot, guy recruit.  
Jean, Scott, Kitty, Evan, and Kurt stayed huddled together. They knew what his meeting was about.  
Scott held Jean around the shoulders and Even and Kurt were keeping an eye on an obviously emotional Kitty.  
"No matter what guys, we have to stay collected for the rest of the team, "Scott murmered in a serious voice.  
All eyes turned to the front as the Proffesor wheeled himself in. He looked at all of his pupils with a stern,  
tired face.  
"I have gathered you all here because of a serious matter. One of our own was attacked today. And though  
we have who we believe is the culprit in custody. Untill we can establish for sure if this was a direct attack on   
mutants I want you all to follow Level 4 security measures." there was a small moan, but the proffesor pressed  
on, "This means no social events until further notice. You will go to school, and come back to the institute.  
'You are never to be alone. When you are returning to the institute you will always be in a group of five or  
more. You all will be assigned communicators."  
He looked once more around at the faces of his students. The majority of them looked mad, while the few faces  
that weren't pouting were looking worried.  
'Are there any questions?"  
Most of the students shook their heads, but one stepped forward: ice-man. Bobby.  
"What happened today Proffesor?"  
"Rogue was attacked. She's in serious condition."  
Bobby nodded: "Is it allright If I visit her?"  
The proffesor smiled.  
"You may visit her. But only a few at a time. And do try not to wake her." he nodded, "Allright, you are dismissed."  
  
  
After the two boys's memories had been readjusted, the men moved to Duncan. They didn't seem at all suspicions wearing  
jeans and wrinkled tops. These special workers knew that black outifts or their ususal stiff, black suits would attract attention  
in this small, casual town.  
One of the men moved over to Duncan and forcefully opened his left eye. The kid would be out for a while, which worked  
perfectly fine with this mans' plans.  
"Hand my the machine." he spoke to one of his other comrades.  
A smaller man nodded and handed the man a small box of metal. In actuality it looked everything like a simplistic walkman.  
There was a set of headphones plugged into it. On this side were a few buttons and on the smooth surface of the front was what  
appeared to be a computer screen.  
He set the head phones on the boy's ears and pushed one of the black buttons. Within seconds the machine was making  
a whirr noise and the screen was blinking with light. A serious of scrambled letters, numbers, and strange, swirling symbols  
came up but the man seemed to understand what it all meant.  
"All right, after we take care of this one we need to find a few more students and fix their memories." he looked at   
his other teams members, as if sizing them up.  
"Sandra, you take the girls. Anderson, you and me will handle the few boys that saw Duncan grab the girl. After that we  
meet up at the base."  
As the team confirmed the leader smiled inwardly. Thank God for the small size of this town. Whenever he had to take care  
of big cities it always turned into a huge, month long affair. This would take the remainder of the night.  
He looked down at the boy and smiled. Blond hair, muscular, an obvious athlete. He looked like the epitimy of teenage  
perfection. All in all the man felt like he was looking at a younger version of himself. A perfect, American teen.  
No mutations, no freak of nature. That was the ideal his comrades worked for. And, if his sources were correct, a major  
organization of mutants was located within this very small town. It was hinted within his organization that if he took down  
this place that a large population of freaks would be at his disposal. Maybe he could at last return back to his wife.  
Back to his long-awaited normalacy.  
  
  
  
With no links to his past, or any concrete evidence on who had so skrewed up his life, it was hard for Logan to get attached to   
anyone. But here, at the Institute, he felt obliged to teach, and protect the children. And as he looked down at Rogue he  
couldn't help but feel guilty.  
Her already pale skin was shaded in patches of blues, purples, and reds. Covering her face were small scratches, dotting her  
face with spots of dark, red, dried blood.  
The arms that were usually hidden behind layers of clothing were covered in large bundles of fiberglass casting. Her leg's  
and the majority of her torso were also covered with white guaze.  
Her face had been wiped clean of the dark makeup and she looked deceptively peaceful sleeping in that hospital room.  
But Logan knew better. His heightened senses picked up the small movements of her eyelids and the chaotic increase and decrease  
of her heart rate. Every little twitch was marked by pain.  
Shaking his head he walked out of the small room that held her. He wanted to make sure that the one they had captured  
was locked up and having a miserable time. 


	4. In a farse

Long awaited-Chapter 4!  
  
  
  
  
Suddenly Rogue woke up. "Wow, "she said, " Ah' feel wonderful!" she looked   
around and saw all of the x-men fitting into her small hospital room.  
Randomly she hugged them all.  
"Golly! I'm cured!"  
Gambit comes running in and kisses her.  
"That attack from Duncan must have changed you." He said without an accent.  
Professor Xavier rolled his chair to where they were standing. "Yes, I can sense it   
now. You're innocent!"  
Logan came over and gave Gambit a big hug, "I'm sorry, Kid. I guess I was being   
hasty in judging you. Can we still be friends?"  
"Sure!" and off they went to have a beer.  
Rogue was accepted into society and burned all her dark clothing. Untill she could   
refurnish her wardrobe she borrowed pink sweaters and tight jeans from Kitty. She even   
stated using the word 'like" after every verb.  
Gambit and Rogue got married.  
Xavier learned to walk again.  
Everyone coupled off and lived together in the mansion.  
Everyone but Jean who finally got a kick in the pants.  
And Rogue forgave Duncan, and they are now the best of friends.  
  
  
  
Wow---Twippy. Yeah, I still have to edit the real Chapter 4 but it should be out in the   
next couple of days. Sorry if anyone, for any amount of time thought I was serious with   
this chapter. Thanks for reading!  
~Caramia~ 


	5. In my Mind

I apologize to anyone who thought that last thing I posted was a real chapter. Yeah, but I did leave a note at the bottom of the text explaining myself there. So reading the author's notes are a good thing. Here's the real chapter. Bon appettite.  
To "annoymous": Did Prof. Xavier really know how to walk? See I don't know everything about the original comic. I din't know about that...I do really appreciate knowing about these things. Thanks!  
  
  
  
The REAL Chapter 4  
  
  
"Sweetie! Time to get up!" a voice that was strait out of the fifties called.  
  
Duncan ran a hand over his face and pushed back the covers. He was this close to   
the championship cup...and just a few more plays from getting a long awaited kiss from Jean.  
  
Damn dream. It had felt so real.  
  
Quickly getting dressed he grabbed breakfast and gave his rather plump mother a   
kiss on the cheek.  
  
He grabbed his keys and was soon driving to school.  
  
Life was good for the teenager. Last night at the resturant he had scored with one of   
the younger cheerleaders. Jean need not know anything about that.  
  
He frowned remembering the 'almost' kiss that had happened between them in his   
dream. She was so damn virtuous. If she wasn't willing to even give herself up to him.  
  
Chicks: he sure as hell didn't understand them.  
  
  
  
The kid's hands were bound to the metalic table underneath him. All and all with the   
restraints around him he resembled  
  
A mental health patient with straps, strait jacket, and needles in his arms.  
  
As Logan walked in the kid was making vain attempts to move his head from side to   
side. He was muttering strange phrases: coming  
  
in and out of French.  
  
So far the Profesor hadn't been able to probe this young man's mind. He had said   
there was some sort of mental barrier that was keeping him from the young mind. But surely, in a day or   
two the dam holding back all the memories and thoughts of the young man would break, and then he   
would know what made this kid think that he could attack anyone of these kids. Especially Rogue...  
  
Logan remembered what it was like to be on the outside of everything, and though   
he had done so on purpose, it was still hard running around the country without anyone there. Rogue put   
herself outside the circle of society on a life and death basis.  
  
And lately she had been slowly letting others except her, and let herself leave her room more   
often. Now was all that ruined.  
  
The older man threw his fist fown on the table by the boy and let all the contents fly   
through the air and land on the floor.  
  
He gazed at the claws protruding from his bawled up fists and looked back at the kid.  
  
Putrid, filthy, horrible, damned...thing, more like.  
  
Logan frowled within his throat and was looked at the sharpened knife on the floor appealingly.  
  
His next course of action was obvious as he picked up the small object and-  
  
Felt it ripped from his fingers and flung across the room. Logan turned and looked at the  
  
half-sized shadown rolling into the room.  
  
"Violence isn't always the answer, Logan." The proffesor stated.  
  
"It has always worked just fine for me." he rubbed at his nose with his thumb, and thrust his   
hands into his pockets, "I just don't think this one is hurting enough for all he did to her."  
"Yes...about that. Logan, we can't be too rash on deciding what's to be done with him. I haven't been able   
to breach this...barrier, but I have picked up a few thoughts from him. And I assure you they are criminal,   
but I didn't sense anything about a hatred, or attack on Rogue."  
  
"Fe. I'm sure once he cracks, we can see all the horrid little details he went through."  
  
"Be that as it may, we'll have to wait, just the same."  
  
Logan moved away from the bed and walked toward the proffesor. The two left the room and   
headed off towards the Danger Room.  
  
  
  
  
As the metallic doors slid into place and the room was bathed in darkness, a pair of red on black   
eyes opened.  
  
  
  
  
  
Only one place she had ever seen before in her life had been as dark as the place she was in   
now; the cave where Mystique had revealed her true intentions, and where she had decided to join the   
x-men. And even in that small, cramped, unlighted cave there had been company. Here, wherever here   
was, was dark, silent and completely unoccupied except for one.  
  
Rogue squinted trying to find any crease of light anywhere. As it was everything was   
completely black. And the silence was so grave that it left a ringing in her ear.  
  
Except for the beep that pierced through the air every few seconds.  
  
Rogue stood still for fear that any movement would result in injury. And with the headache   
crushing in the back of her head, the hurt every time she breathed in or out, and the small aches all over   
more pain was not wanted.  
  
But the sound was getting annoying, and the inablility to see even the hand that she passed in   
front of her face was too much to bear for much longer.  
  
With every fiber of her being she wished someone to be there to help her. Even Jean would be   
wanted company. She was so concentrated on bidding help to come that the pain seemed to ease away.   
And she could swear she felt a hand on her forehead, brushing her hair away from her face.  
  
With a great amount of effort she opened her eyes.  
  
And surely she must be dead for a devil was standing over her, holding a gloved hand over her   
forehead. 


	6. In this House

One note-(I don't own X-men and...) I'm really finding it hard to write this story because there is so little inspiration from the show, since they show a new one close to never, and it sucks(though mindbender really rocked, because we all got to see what Jean is really like and you know she wasn't under any spell~.~ and Rogue did that cool thing with Jeans' powers!)  
But I would love fanart, or any thoughts on what you think is happening with the story.  
This is my e-mail-cutie_fu@excite.com Feel free to e-mail me anything! Rants, flames, ideas, ANYTHING!  
  
  
Chapter 5  
  
  
  
Jean sat with her many pages of homework spread over her desk. A pencil twirled in her hands as a soft concierto drifted from a record player in the corner. The professor loved this stuff, and Jean took every opportunity to make the professor happy.  
She smiled to herself as she gazed at the picture of her and Scott that she held in her hands. His glasses hung dangerously low on the bridge of his nose, and his reddish brown hair was messed up, hanging over his sunglasses. Running a hand over the glass she sighed. Her manicured fingers made a scraping noise as she ran them down the thin plate of glass. Scott hadn't been fawning over her as much as he used to, and it was starting to bother her. Yes, she had Duncan, but the attention Scott gave her was warm and constant.  
Another picture of her and Duncan was propped on a book to her left. Duncan had a possesive arm around her and that look in his eyes. The look that was there whenever he looked at her; lustful.  
As much as she liked keeping the handsome football player around her finger, she hated the way he could be so sexist at times.  
Tossing her red hair over her shoulder she stood up. It was about eight o'clock and time to meet with the professor about her powers. Bits and pieces of the night were lodged in her memory from that unfortunate night when her powers had rapidly evolved, but little else then fragmants lasting mere seconds.  
One constant image was that of Rogue touching her face.  
She shivered remembering the girl's cold hands on her face, and then that sudden intrusion into her brain. Who knew what secrets the introverted goth-girl was harboring from her memory. Jean liked being able to read other minds, but her's should be off limit. After all she was one of the top, and first, students at the intitute.  
A smirk touched her pretty lips at the thought. It was good to be on top.  
She walked down the halls and quickly made it to the lower, secret, levels through one of the many hidden doors. The main hallway of the underground headquarters of the X-men was vacant and the glaring white light bounced off the metallic walls. To her far right was the danger room, where she was to meet with the professor, and just off to her left was the infirmary where Rogue was lying, unconscious.  
Jean squinted her eyes and concentrated on the infirmary, trying to pick up on Rogue's brain pattern.  
She gasped feeling, for a brief second, the thoughts of a very dangerous mind. What she saw for the few seconds she reaches inside the mind was a series of images of an attack. Rogue was lying on the ground, her eyes were closed, she was hurt...  
Someone else was in the infirmary with the goth-someone who had witnessed the crime.  
It took a few seconds to make up her mind before Jean raised herself telepathically and turned toward the infirmary door. Gaining access through the large, circular door was easy enough, and she snuck in silently, listening for anyone.  
As she floated next to the curtain that blocked her from the sleeping form of Rogue she saw a form sitting on the bed.  
Maybe Rogue had woken up...  
"Ugh..."  
She then heard a slight chuckle.  
"Cherie, you are 'wake."  
The sheets ruffled slightly as the hospital bed creaked. Rogue's sillhouette sat up and faced the shadow of the stranger.  
"You-You were tha' boy! From the alley!"  
"Oui, mon pettite. Gambit here was there fo' you, cherie."  
"G-gambit?"  
The shadow on the curtain reached up a hand and patted Rogue's hair. She flinched a bit, but did not try to move any further.  
"My real name is Remy."  
"You-You're a mutant to, aren't yah?"the question was immedietly followed by a soft coughing noise, which soon grew into a coughing fit. Rogue's form doubled over, only resulting in a painful gasp from the girl.  
"Remy's" hands were on her shoulders, holding her.  
"Easy 'der, cherie. You are in a hospital for a rea--"  
"Rogue!"  
Jean whirled around and saw a very concerned Professor rolling into the infirmary, followed by an angry Logan. There was a clatter behind the curtain, and with a outreach of his hand, the Proffesor telepathically removed the temporary wall.  
Rogue was laying on her bed, propped up with many pillows. The boy that had been there mere seconds ago was no longer there.  
The patient stared wide eyes at them all. Her skin was pale, even compared to the whiteness of the linens surrounding her. Her hair was fanned on the pillows, creating a halow of darkness around her head. Her eyes were slightly glazed over, partly from all the pain medication pumping through her system through an I.V.  
Logan allowed himself a grin at the now conscious Rogue. He had agreed to letting his hand touch her's for a brief few seconds, in order to help the healing proccess without killing himself. It had, evidently, taken care of the small bruises and cuts, but there were still many to go.  
The profesor looked around the room, sending cabinets open, and moving heavy objects with his mind.  
Jean, recovering from the shock of Logan and the professor barging in decided to help in the attempt to find the boy.   
A deadly growl resonated from Logan's throat:  
"There's no way out of this, bub" he spat out venemously, "Even the air vents can only be unlocked by code."  
Jean scanned the room with her green eyes. Nothing moved. Rogue shifted on her bed, looking around the room for any sign of the boy that had been there seconds ago.  
The telepathic girl placed a hand on her hip.  
"Rogue, Wh-"  
She was cut off by the sudden movement of Logan, dashing across the room, falshing his long, sharp claws and pining something to the wall.  
One set of claws was embedded in the wall, millimeters from the youngs boys, tense neck, while the other was pined at the boy's left side. A gleaming drip of blood fell from his side where a metallic claw was buried in his skin... 


	7. No seriously...There is a chapter here.

How cruel was that last ending? Blah on me! Yes so Here's the next chapter, and I hope   
you like it.  
Yes, And I won't continue unless i get a hundred reviews for this chapter..... 


	8. In Wounds

How cruel was that last ending? Blah on me! Yes so Here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it.  
  
Yes, And I won't continue unless i get a hundred reviews for this chapter...-----KIDDING! I hate it when people do that. Writing shouldn't be about the reviews! C'mon people!  
  
Enjoy-  
  
Love, always,  
  
C~  
  
One more thing-I'm giving up the internet for Lent. I've been spending far too much time on it and need to spend time with my family and friends, and God. So, for the next 40 days I won't be updating. But you can certainly expect muchos capitulos(many chapters) when I get back! Thanks everyone! See you in a month and a half!  
  
Ai ya…one more thing-this is really supposed to be a chapter, but when I updated it two weeks ago it only let out the first line of the story. I kept reposting it and it kept not working. Hopefully this will work, if not, I'm going to write someone a strongly worded letter. Sooooooo, thank you soooooo much for all the reviews(I saved them onto my disk, just in case FF.net skrewed me over with this whole thing) even if it was just a vote.  
  
I would never demand reviews, never, sorry to anyone who thought I was truly serious, I love you all the more.  
  
Caramia~  
  
  
  
Chapter 6  
  
  
  
The ramshakle room was hardly big enough for all the people there within to shuffle around and finish their work efficiently. But the occupants made no complaints and continued their arduous tasks.  
  
A young woman, with her hair pulled up in a haphazard ponytail typed furiously at her laptop. The incident that had happened last night was far from being wrapped up but headquarters still required a report be sent in every hour on the hour. Currently she was gaining any and all information on one of the young cheerleaders that had made contact with the girl yesterday afternoon. Her profile was almost exactly word for word what the other four had been. Healthy, pretty young thing brought up in a family where mom and dad both had productive jobs, and all lived in a nice, three story house with a nice poodle.  
  
It made the woman sick to realize it used to be her own persona as well.  
  
That was before it had been found out that her mother had been a mutant. One of these so called advanced humans. Her power was limited to reading minds. When she found out what her mother really was she left her friends, her school and her house to join up with the people she was with now. It had been this way for nearly seven years.  
  
She wrapped up the report and pressed the send button.  
  
To her immediate left was her superior, and close friend, David. He was the one in charge of this mission, and the one that took all the blame when the superiors didn't get teh reports exactly on time.  
  
She watched him rub his eyes and run a hand through his brown hair. A few strands just above his ears were begining to shine with new gray hairs. David was young, a few years still from 40, but this job that he dedicated his entire being too was slowly draining away the youth and vigor he had once possesed.  
  
She often wondered what drove him to work so hard for this job. There must be something behind his hate for mutants. She knew it could only be hate she felt for those...mistakes, because whenever she watched him get close to one of them there was this look of disgust on his face. It started in his scrunched up nose, everytime it would seems as if he were smelling something utterly putrid. His emerald eyes would narrow and his hands would clench at his sides. As much as she dispised mutants, it couldn't hold a candle to the rage, hatred, repulse David showed.  
  
But, she was unsure of what caused it. Many people aware of the organization would call them racist against these mutants. It wasn't true. It was simply that these mutants would try to but on a facade of normalacy, lie to everyone, and then reveal themselves as freaks.  
  
Sandra shook her head, remembering her mother. As soon as she did she bit the inside of her cheek. That had become a habit; everytime she thought about what her own mother had don, she would pinch her arm, or bite on her tongue and cheek; a sort of punishment.  
  
She watched David reach his arms over his head and let his joints pop. He patted her hair as he stood up.  
  
"I'm going out for breakfast, do you want anything Sandra D?"  
  
He knew she hated that name, and it only made him say it more.  
  
"Yeah, a biiiiiiiiiig cup of coffee."  
  
He nodded, picked up his keys, and left the small room.  
  
Sandra poked at one of her comrades currently sleeping with his head on his crossed arms, and half his body on a table.  
  
"Joe?" she prodded him further untill his head was turned toward her, and his eyes were slightly open, "What did you find out about that blood spot?"  
  
Joe simply itched his scalp and looked sleepily at her.  
  
"Not O.H(ordinary human). It belonged to a mutant."  
  
Sandra turned back to her small laptop, folded it down, and promply rested her tired head on it.  
  
"Good to hear."  
  
  
  
Rogue could only watch as the form of the boy slid down the wall, leaving a trail of red on the wall where his body slumped. She tried to go to him but her body screamed otherwise. Her vision was twirling her around, and her ribs were tightening around her lungs. It hurt to breath let alone move.  
  
She could feel Jean pushing her shoulders against the pillows, and her body was too weak to fight it.  
  
The boys eyes were looking directly at her. He winced, and let out a grunt as Logan retracted his claws, pulling the bloody metal back into his hand.  
  
"M-m-mon cherie..." his body doubled over in a heap by the wall. Logan was glaring down at the body, not hiding his obvious contempt for the teen.  
  
"Serves him right."  
  
The profesor wheeled himself over the the two and layed his fingers by his temples. His eyes were closed for mere seconds, but that periosd obviously allowed him some terrible information.  
  
He gasped, eyeing the boy.  
  
"He didn't do it..."  
  
Logan, and Jean turned toward the proffesor.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan asked, obviously confused.  
  
"He-he wasn't the one that attacked Rogue."  
  
A grunt from the bed told them Rogue had something to say.  
  
"Of course he didn't do it." she wheezed, "He saved me."  
  
Logan walked up to her, and looked at her eyes.  
  
"Are you sure, kid?"  
  
Rogue closed her eyes and nodded.  
  
Logan whipped back to the body, and without a second thought picked up the limp form of the boy. In a few strides he was at the bed, and laying Remy down. The older man took off the long trenchcoat the kid was wearing and surveyed the damage to the right side of his body.  
  
"Call for Hank."  
  
Jean tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked at the proffesor. He was already in deep thought, trying to send a telepathic message. She rolled her eyes, finding it hard to believe that this enemy was now going to recieve medical attention. If not for Rogue's injuried then something. She could see he had the look about him. Filthy, unshaven, unwashed. Not like her at all.  
  
As Logan was pressing qauze to the bleeding wound, Jean made her way to Rogue's bed.  
  
"If he didn't do it, then who did, Rogue?"  
  
The gothic girl gazed at the red head.  
  
She swallowed, took a few deep breaths, and said:  
  
"Duncan Matthews."  
  
Jean gasped, and glared down at the girl.  
  
Jean's outraged face was the last thing she saw before her vision erupted in white light, terrible pain, and then...nothing. 


	9. All Over

Hello everybody! Did you miss me during this long Lent season? I missed you! And it's really sad because for a while all my inspiration for this fanfiction went down the tubes.  
  
I seriously considered throwing it into the bottomless pit of unfinished fanfiction. But, then I re read all of the reviews for this and I knew that no matter what I have to finish this!*American flag waves in backgroud* With God as my witness I WILL finish this fiction!  
  
Yeah. And, can I just list here some really great fanfictions that absolutely must be read?  
  
1) Anything by the Black Rose. She writes mainly Gundam Wing fanfiction, with Heero and Relena as the main couple. Every single one of her fictions are entertaining, enlightening, thrilling, romantic, humorous, deep, and just perfection. I recommend reading everything she has written. Especially LOVE'S LABOUR LOST and ACROSS ENEMY LINES. Both of which she is working on with two other great writers: Luvspook and Stella. Excellent reads!  
  
2) PAN by Punko McMac. It's intense, and there are some graphic scenes involving massive amounts of violence, but it is too great to pass up. If you're a fan of Peter Pan or not, this story takes on some exciting twists and it needs to be read.  
  
3) Anything by the MOUSE. Her Card Captor Sakura story is romantic, thrilling and worth taking the time to read every word of it. And her Escaflowne fic. RETURN ah! I'm going to die waiting for it all to be uploaded. (Oh please hurry with the rest!)  
  
4) Chelsee, oh my Lord! This girl is on fire! She hilarious, witty, dramatic, suspenseful....the list goes on. Her fan art is great also! There's a lot of emotion in everything she does, and she is soooooo intellegent!  
  
  
  
  
  
"There are daggers in men's smiles" Macbeth (nothing to do with the fanfiction really, but it's still a good quote.)  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Rows of houses whizzed by his vision as he drove down the road. The sun had yet to break and the houses stood silent. Only an occasionaly light was on in a house, aside from that, it was dark and quiet.  
  
David reached down for his cup of coffee while steering with the other hand. The hot liguid poured down his throat, the first thing he had drunk in the last 28 hours. He swished it around in his mouth for a few seconds, savoring the rich, chocolatety flavor before swallowing.  
  
He set his cup down in it's holder and put both hands back on the steering wheel.  
  
A country song came on the radio and he instantly turned down the volume. In the last ten years he had not had the courage to listen to that sort of music. That was what she always listened to.  
  
Anything that had to do with her was burned from his memory. He shook his head and turned right.  
  
The houses were beginging to become farther and few. Large maple trees were just begining to turn gold and red, and the leaves  
  
scattered all over the streets. To his right was a large fenced area with a mansion sitting in the center. Large trees blocked off most of the property.  
  
David shook his head, thinking of the rich family that must occupy the large estate. Once apon a time he had lived in a big house and had a family to share it with. But that was gone now and he could never get it back. One thing he could do was prevent any other person from going through what he did. That's all that he wanted, to never let a mutant hurt anyone ever again. Like one had hurt him.  
  
And now the memories of all that he had flew to his vision.  
  
A beautiful, tall, slender brown eyed, brown hair beauty. All that he wanted in a woman she was. She could listen, talk, argue, cook, clean, and understand most sports.  
  
When his little girl was born she had been the best mother. And she had been so patient with him learning to be a daddy. And all that was gone.  
  
The long walks in the park when the air was just starting to get cold but it was still warm enough to walk around in shorts and tank top. All the festivals, the first years of school, tea parties, and his baby girl were gone. It was all some sort of joke between him and fate. Once he finally found happiness it had to be snatched away.  
  
Unconsciously he pressed harder on the gas pedal and speed down the abandoned streets.  
  
And he was completely unaware of the events that were happening in the large house not even 100 yards from him.  
  
  
  
Hank McCoy, now calling himself the Beast, pulled the last thread through the skin of the cringing boy in front of him. Using massive, blue fingers he tied a surgeon's knot and poured hydrogen peroxide on the wound to prevent any infection.  
  
The boy, Remy, hissed and fought against the restraints that had become necessary to hold him at bay. With demonic eyes he glared up at Beast, showing all the contempt he felt.  
  
"Don't even start. I could have let you bleed." He poured more hydrogen peroxide on for good measure and then dabbed at the remaining blood with some gauze. He picked up the needle, invisible thread, and bloody gauze from the table and threw them at the waste basket.  
  
Though the cut had been deep it didn't hurt any internal structures and all that was required to fix it had been stiches. But in all likelyhood the boy was going through a lot of pain from the cuts.  
  
The large, furry man turned from his patient to face another. Rogue was lying in bed, completely motionless.  
  
Machines beeped out their electronic language, telling him what was going on within her. She was allright, according to them. Even better than she had been a few hours ago when he had first hooked her up to them. Logan's healing ability was certainly proving useful at this time. Cuts that would have lead to scars on her young face were already gone, or healing at an excelerated pace.  
  
The paternal instincts in him that had been honed during his years of teaching swelled in him as he watch one of his more helpless students struggle to hold on. His first impulse was to reach out and brush away the white strands of hair from the slightly drenched brow, but it quickly died as he recalled her untouchable skin. Her white hair remained a mask hiding half of her face while he watched on.  
  
Rogue had been one of his trouble students, as most of the x-men had been before he found out they were mutants. Like Evan, he could tell that the girl was intellegent, witty, and possessed skills that even she didn't know of yet. And the month or two he had lived here had let him see deeper into her persona. It was just the barrier that she forced between herself and other people that killed off any chance of relationship she might have.  
  
He shook his large, furry head and glanced at the clock. Another day was coming up fast, bring with it a new range of possibilities, dangers, and chances of exposure. The Beast took a deep breath, sighed and went to the desk hiding in the corner. On it was a large manilla folder with blank pages longing to be filled. On the label was the name "Remy LeBeau".  
  
The Beast sat his large frame down in the chair especially designed for him and began to write about the new student to the Xavier school for Gifted Youngsters.  
  
  
  
'No, no, no!' Jean screamed over and over in her mind as she raced down the corridors of the mansion. She reached her room and promptly slammed the door behind her. She slid down the oak frame, pressing her palms into her eyes, trying to block the stream of tears that flowed.  
  
It just wastn't fair. The only father figure she could really called her own, Professor Xavier, had just given a heated lecture to her! And what over; the Rogue. A freak even among the mutants that had been living at the institute for less than a year was actually being defended agianst herself!  
  
Jean picked herself off the floor and ran her arm along the desk by her vanity. All the cute picture frames, flowers, homework, books, and cute teddy bears went flying onto the floor. With her telekanesis she moved the heavier furniture and sent it spinning in all directions. The noise of the crashing and banging must have alerted the other x-men, but it didn't matter to her.  
  
SHE had been here the longest. HER and Scott were the first, original, best x-men. And with Storm, the Professor, and occasionaly Logan they had been fine!  
  
Then, ever so slowly all of THEM had taken the attention from her, and it wasn't fair!  
  
Now the professor blames her for correctly punishing the lying, traitor, gothic freak that was Rogue.  
  
The redhead turned her gaze towards the bed and squinted her eyes. Reaching out her hand she levitated the four poster canopy bed a few feet in the air.  
  
Twisting off the mental switch in her mind she dropped it to the floor. The wood paneling underneath it cracked and chiped under the force of the posts slamming into it. The dainty, white covers flew up and settled half on the bed, half on the floor.  
  
The normally happy, quiet room settled into an eerie silence that permeated through every object in it. Jean, tired from the frustration, anguish, mental fatigue let her legs fall out from under her. She leaned her head against the cold wall, resting her tear stained cheek against the cool surface.  
  
She couldn't tell how long she sat there, letting the tears flow, just listening to her heart beat, but when she finally got up she had come to a drastic decision.  
  
The talented, beautiful, jealous telepath calmly stood, ran a hand over her wrinkled cloths and made for her closet. It was now obvious that a move was in order.  
  
  
  
  
  
This was worse than the darkness that had overwhelmed her even less than an hour ago. In every direction was a pure, luminous white that over- flooded her visual senses. It was like looking into the sun, too painful to do for even a small amount of time.  
  
Rogue closed her eyes, but the light still burned even there.  
  
But Rogue was surprised that was the only pain she felt. She could breath, move, stand, talk without the throbbing pain in her body.  
  
And even though that was great, Rogue knew that this all wasn't real. She knew what had actually happened to her, and that this...limbo she was lying in was simply an escape.  
  
Or a prison. The vision of Jean's angered face flashed before her. Her mean, cold, green eyes were the last thing she had seen before she had found herself in this place. And the more the mutant thought about it the more this place seemed more fake.  
  
In her regular dreams Rogue would only see herself from a distance, outside of her body. And there were always weird situations going on in her dreams. People changing shapes, flying, all these many elaborate plots played out in her head night after night.  
  
And this place was void of everything. Rogue opened her eyes again, hoping that the brilliant light had faded away, but it had not. As soon as she opened her eyes her senses were bombarded with light.  
  
She closed her eyes again and crossed her arms. Whatever the hell this place was, it was going to take a whole lot more than concentration to break out of.  
  
  
  
He didn't expect the small operations room to be so filled with joyous laughter, but sure enough when he opened the door all of his team members where smiling, laughing, and some even dancing. David had to smile considering that the last time he had seen these people that had all been on the verge of a coma. He set his bags of donuts down on a nearby table and searched out his friend Sandra.  
  
David found her hugging various people of the team and smiling brilliantly. As he approached her he felt congratulatory pats on the back from other friends. When he finally got to Sandra he found himself locked in her embrace. He smiled and patted her back then pushed her away.  
  
"What's going on around here?"  
  
Sandra was beaming, tossing her hair over her shoulders excitedly. This was an annoying habit that she had developed over her time working with him.  
  
"We just got great news from headquarters. Not only are they pleased about our excellent work down here, but..." she paused leading him over to a computer, " They've also decided to send us an early Christmas present."  
  
She pressed a button, making the screen blink and then view it's many open windows. On the open window he saw a piece of equipment that resembled a helmet with many wires sticking out of it.  
  
He glanced at Sandra who was wearing a wide grin. David rolled his eyes.  
  
"Soooo...? What is it supposed to be?"  
  
Sandra sighed and pointed towards the screen.  
  
"It's one of the greatest things that has ever happened to us, David." She pushed herself on top of the table and crossed her legs.  
  
"We've known for a long time that mutants have a different "brain signal" than from normal human beings. And to some degree we could pick up on those signals, but...as you know these methods are both exspensive and not even close to pin point accuracy." Seeing the look on his face she decided to hurry up, "This thing, this marvelous God-sent piece of equipment can actually hone in on any mutant, within seconds, to their precise location. And, not only that, it can tell us what they're capable of."  
  
She smiled at him, tossing her locks over her right shoulder.  
  
David gazed down at the machine with a newfound respect. With this every mutant could be under control, locked up, or even annihilate every mutant in the entire country.  
  
"When can we get one?"  
  
"Today: at four o'clock. I think it's safe to say who's got first dibbs on this, huh?" 


	10. All Over Me

Wow...chapter eight...I thought this would just be a few chapters long. But then characters started popping up in my brain and I had to develope  
  
them...different plotlines. To tell the truth, I have no idea how this story is going to end. Maybe a death or two...happily ever  
  
after...self-reflections...a massive change in the world...who knows?  
  
Ten chapters or less, that's what I'm thinking at this time. Heck, I could kill everyone off and end it in this chapter, wouldn't that suck? Yeah it  
  
would.  
  
If I were you, dear readers, I would put on my safety helmets because I'm am so about to throw a whooper of a secret at y'all pretty soon. Yeah.  
  
It's going to be all different shades of cool.  
  
But, on to bigger and better things...  
  
Chapter 8  
  
  
  
In all of the clans he had lived through, with the pits of worthless scums he had lived with, and in all of the deadly scraps with the law  
  
he had managed to survive he had never felt such pain.  
  
When those silver claws had ripped into his flesh, it had been uncomfortable. When the claws had been mercelissly pulled from his  
  
tissue the pain had brought on a quick bought of unconsciousness. But then there was the antiseptic poured into the wound, the sewing of his  
  
very on flesh. This cascaded his entire body into such a sea of unending pain that even slipping into pits of oblivion provided no relief from the  
  
burning.  
  
What was worse was that it was the first time in his life that anyone had ever cared enough to actually patch him up. The big, hairy,  
  
beast of a man had actually tried very hard to fight off any pain he might cause from fixing the gash in his side. Remy was gratiful to the 'man',  
  
even though he kept up the guard of the sarcastic pick-pocket.  
  
And even if this was the worse pain he would probably ever feel in his life he felt it was worth it to be able to clear his name, for once!  
  
He had saved the fair cherie and now all of these people knew it, and it seemed were going to great lengths to make up for locking him up before.  
  
Already many strange teenagers had come into the infirmary and after checking up on the sleeping beauty had stopped and thanked him. Him! In  
  
all of his life he had never been responsible for a single philanthropic act. But of course, he had recieved much pleasure in playing the hero to the  
  
fair damsel in distress.  
  
He looked to his left and saw the bed where his sleeping rescue lay. From the young boys and girls that filtered out of the room he  
  
learned that her name was Rogue.  
  
The name seemed off to him. Who would want to make an outcast of such a strange, dark angel? He studied her, taking in the sharp  
  
curves of her nose and forehead, and the line of her pale lips. The make up she had worn when he first saw her was washed away replaced with  
  
an even paler, natural foundation and red marks from cuts and bruises. Still she seemed pretty, if not beautiful to him. The small light that shined  
  
above her and spread a halo over her only perfected the image.  
  
"Ah-hem."  
  
He looked to his right and saw the beast that had patched him up looking at him with a wide grin.  
  
"I said, do you feel alright?"  
  
Remy nodded, "Non. Remy in a lot of pain, monstre(not a mistake, that's french!). But..." he looked back towards Rogue, "Maybe I'm in  
  
heaven now because she must be an angel."  
  
From the Beast there was a loud laugh and Remy glared at him for it.  
  
The Beast wiped away a tear and smiled at him, "I didn't mean to offend. It's just that I think I'm going to get along well with you."  
  
"Oui?' Remy raised an eyebrow at the older man, "Why you think 'dat?"  
  
Beast put on his glasses and picked up a book from the desk. He held it in his huge hand for a moment before walking over and placing  
  
it on the bed by the boy's hand. Remy picked it up and read the word "Shakespeare" written in gold on the front. Remy looked at the beast  
  
questioningly.  
  
" It seems to me that you have the soul of a poet. Have you ever read anything by 'the Bard'?" he said, pointing at the book.  
  
Remy shook his head, thumbing through as carefully as if he were handling precious glass.  
  
"Non, I might have stole a few copies, but never read one." Remy said taking one last look at the book then handing it back to the  
  
Beast. But the furry man just pushed it back towards Remy.  
  
"My bookshelves are filled with books from Shakespeare, I think you should keep this one."  
  
Remy looked at the book once more and then back at the man.  
  
"You done too much already, monsier. Remy don't deserve 'dat."  
  
The Beast shook his head and smiled at the boy. "Please, it's the least I can do. You saved her life." he pointed at Rogue.  
  
Remy glanced once again at her laying motionless on the bed and then turned back to the book. He turned the front cover and noticed  
  
some words he had overlook.  
  
"Hank...McCoy..." Remy looked the beastly man in the eye, "'Dat you?"  
  
"Yes, or at least that was who I was." Beast looked off for a moment, "I used to be a teacher, but then..."he trailed off.  
  
Remy nodded, 'Then 'da mutation set in, non? Remy knows what 'dat be like."He stared at the man with his devil eyes, "I used to have  
  
the bluest eyes 'dis side of the Mississippi..."  
  
"Is that you're only mutation?" the older man asked, not fully compreheding what he was getting himself into.  
  
Remy smiled, let out a small chuckle and pulled himself to a sitting position, which spread fire throughout his entire body.  
  
"Monsier, do you feel up for a game of poker?"  
  
  
  
Lance Alvers slammed the breaks down on his speeding jeep, parking in the spot that he reserved for himself everyday. He was glad to  
  
see that the "Park here and Pay" sign he had spray-painted on the cement actually worked. Even teachers seemed to take the threat seriously.  
  
He pulled out the keys from the ignition and slipped them into his pocket. He grabbed the few books he had and let the seat slide  
  
forward to let Freddy, Tabitha, and the Toad out.  
  
Tabitha winked at him and ran a finger along his chest as she passed.  
  
"Thanks, cutie."  
  
He rolled his eyes and continued making his way towards the school. Together the Brotherhood walked through the parking lot,  
  
glaring at anyone that dared to look at them the wrong way.  
  
Lance soon saw Kitty walking towards the main entrance and left his group to catch up with her. He waved his arm frantically, trying to  
  
capture her attention. When at last he did he saw that something was seriously wrong. Her usually happy blue eyes were cloudy and the happy  
  
skip in her step was replaced by the dragging of her heels.  
  
He slowed his pace down untill he was standing right in front of her.  
  
"Hey, pretty-Kitty!" he smiled, hoping it would be contagious. It wasn't, if anything it seemed to make her more sad. Her lips dropped  
  
further into a frown and she flew into his arms, sobbing into his chest.  
  
The rest of the Brotherhood arrived on the spot and snickered as their 'leader' was turned into a sort of hankerchief.  
  
"What's the matter, Kitty-cat? Break a nail?" Tabitha smiled, and the others laughed.  
  
"Yeah..." Pietro sped over to where Kitty was, tapped her on the shoulder, moved away, then did it again, at least fifty times in a few  
  
seconds, "Couldn't find the matching socks to your purse-"  
  
"Hey, Shut up, morons!" Lance barked at them, wrapping his arm around Kitty and lifting her tear stained face with the other hand.  
  
"It's just..." she pushed away from him and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked around the group, staring at each one in the  
  
eye. "Like...you guys think Rogue turned traitor on you, but like...you would never like hurt her, would you?"  
  
Lance looked down at his distressed girlfriend, and tilted his head.  
  
"Hurt her?" He shook his head, "Yeah, can't say she's one of our favorite people right now, but we wouldn't hurt her." he saw some  
  
tension leave her face, but tears were still streaming down her face.  
  
The first bell of the school day rang and Kitty automatically turned toward the building. Lance reached out and grabbed her arm, not  
  
with a great amount of pressure, but enough to hold her. She tried to pull away, too confused in her state of sorrow to realize the amazing power  
  
she had at her whim.  
  
"Lance I have to get to class."  
  
"No, not untill I find out what's going on. What' s wrong with Rogue?"  
  
The Brotherhood started to form a circle around the two, now they were quite curious to find out what was happening.  
  
Kitty sniffed, and stopped resisting.  
  
"Rogue was attacked. When we found her, "Kitty wiped at the new tears that were pouring from her eyes. "When we found her she  
  
was beaten up pretty bad." The brotherhood took in a collective gasp.  
  
Lance curled a glove encased fist and the ground beneath them began to tremble a bit.  
  
The Blob cracked his knuckles and flexed his muscles, "Who did it.?" he growled, deep within his throat.  
  
"When we found Rogue there was this guy with her." she let out a shaky breath, "We thought he did it, but when Rogue woke up  
  
back at the institute she said it wasn't him. She said it was Duncan Mathews."  
  
The shaky ground split in a spot to their left, the picnic table resting there sank into the ground a bit.  
  
Lance's body was convulsing, and everyone within the circle was showing the rage clear on their faces. Pietro's pale skin burned with a  
  
anger within him.  
  
"He's gone too far."  
  
"He can't get away with this!"  
  
"It might be us tomorrow!"  
  
"Isaywegoovertohishouse,poundhisroomintooblivion,smashhisheadinforgoodmeasur eandthenexposehimonnationaltelevision."  
  
Kitty held up her hands and glared at them.  
  
"We can't just go attack him!" Kitty ran a hand through her untied hair, "Believe me, I want to, but we just can't go attack him."  
  
Lance pulled on her arm and the group started walking back to the parking lot.  
  
"Kitty, we can't let him get away with beating people! What if he found out about mutants? Your X-men are the ones that want to unite  
  
the world, what are they gonna do about it?!"  
  
The tears had stopped running and were replaced by red cheeks and a pair of bright,blue, angry eyes.  
  
"If we hurt America's Poster Boy, we will totally be giving mutants a bad name. Even if we have a cause, he'll be the victim and we'll be  
  
the bad guys!"  
  
Tabitha, who had remained quiet and had her arms wrapped around herself finally spoke up.  
  
"So, then, we don't attack, "a smirk came to her lips, "We do something worse."  
  
This got the groups attention and they listened carefully to what the girl had to say.  
  
"What that pig-headed idiot loves the most is his popularity as a football player and track star. If we take away the reputation then he's  
  
nothing. If he starts loosing, no one will remember who he is."  
  
The happy, perky Kitty was starting to return to the surface.  
  
"We could totally get Jean to start making him skrew up." she smiled and hopped on one foot, "He is sooo gonna pay."  
  
Lance smiled, liking this vengful side of his girlfriend. "Allright. Duncan is going down and it starts at the game, tomorrow."  
  
The Brotherhood smiled and nodded.  
  
Kitty glanced down at her watch, noting that it was still only ten minutes into first period. "All right, Lance, I'll talk to Jean and give  
  
you a call at the regular time tonight." She blew a kiss to him and started running to her next class. But when she noticed that the others weren't  
  
heading toward the school she turned around.  
  
"Hey!" the all turned to look at her, "Aren't you going to class?"  
  
The group broke out into a collective laugh and hopped into Lance's jeep.  
  
"Oh, hell no!" Pietro yelled as Lance stepped on the gas, "We've got some serious revenge to plan!"  
  
Kitty giggled, feeling better than she had since ogue had been brought in, and hopped to her classroom.  
  
  
  
  
  
Jean stamped her foot impatiently as she waited for her 'guest to arrive'. After a few hours on the internet, and using her telepathic  
  
abilities to strip people's minds she had finally found what she was looking for. A twisted plan was turning inside of her head.  
  
It was all a matter of getting all of the x-men out of the institute, and leaving Rogue alone.  
  
It seemed quite simple: Cause a major disturbance, convince the proffesor that he was needed with the team, talk him into letting Jean  
  
stay behind (thanks to an untimely cold *cough*cough*). The Rogue would be at her mercy.  
  
The telepath laughed flipping her red hair over her shoulder. When she heard the footsteps on the pavement coming closer she turned  
  
to face the door and smoothed down the front of her dress. She had worn huge glasses, a form of disguise should anything go wrong.  
  
A man walked through the door, holding a briefcase at his side. He was handsome, Jean had to admit. He had chesnut, brown, short  
  
wavy hair. Just above his ears were a few sprinkles of white. His sharp, jutted cheekbones caused shadows that only heightened the green tones  
  
of his eyes. He held a folded trenchcoat in the crook of his arm while extending the other one to her.  
  
"Mr. Smith, I presume?" she smiled clutching his hand in hers.  
  
"Call me David. I hear you have some information on some...unwanted pests?"  
  
"Well, "she pouted slightly and leaned in closer to him, "I would never have called the 'Friends of Humanity'' if I hadn't though there  
  
was an actual mutant, "she shivered for effect," involved. Nasty thing, if you ask me."  
  
"What makes you think that this person is a mutant?" he asked pulling out a notebook and a pencil.  
  
"Well...I looked at your website and she seems to match all of your warning symptoms. A loaner, bad attitude towards more popular  
  
people, plus..." she bit her lip.  
  
"Go on." David started to chew on the tip of his pen.  
  
"I've seen her. One time, she just touched a boy and he started convulsing. He was in a coma for weeks!"  
  
David narrowed his eyebrows, this sounded like one powerful mutant.  
  
"When you say "touched" do you mean just..."  
  
Jean leaned forward and brushed her fingers against his cheek.  
  
"Just like that! And he siezed up!"  
  
The older man wrote furiously.  
  
"What does she look like?"  
  
Jean touched a finger to her cheek and looked off.  
  
"Well...For starters she has really oily brown hair, really white skin. She's kindof short, green eyes... Oh yes!" Jean brushed her bangs  
  
away from her face, "Her bangs are this nasty shade of white."  
  
*Clank*  
  
Jean looked at the man and saw him shaking visibly. The pen he had been holding in his hand had dropped to the floor and the pad of  
  
paper looked like it was about to fall as well. He had a far off look in his eyes, like he was looking at a ghost.  
  
"Uhhh...Sir?" Jean tapped his shoulder causing him to jump nearly out of his skin.  
  
"Sorry..." he held his head with his hand. 'No, this couldn't be. It just couldn't. Be.'  
  
"I'm, sorry, terrible headache. I...I have to go." He nodded at her then and turning on his heel he left.  
  
Jean stared at his back as he left and shook her head.  
  
"Norms..."  
  
She snorted and grabbing her purse on the table she left the warehouse.  
  
  
  
David, not knowing what else to do reached his car and then promptly threw up the contents of his stomach. He grabbed his abdomen  
  
and sank down to the ground while wiping his mouth with his free hand.  
  
His breathing was eratic and his heart was beating at a 100 miles per hour. The older man shook his head, trying to throw away the  
  
description he had been given.  
  
'...Brown hair...bangs are a nasty shade of white...'  
  
It must be some other girl. Kid punks died their hair weird colors all the time. It couldn't be her.  
  
And yet he couldn't stop his hand from reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his battered and torn leather wallet. He dug  
  
through it with his fingers until an all too familiar picture came up.  
  
There he was, an arm around his beautful, freak, ex-wife. And on his shoulder, laughing, was a little girl. Her features were plump, her  
  
hair short, and at the tip of her child head was a shock of white.  
  
He remembered being scared out of his mind when he had first seen it. That had been shortly after he had kicked his wife out, and she  
  
had taken their daughter with him.  
  
His sweet daughter.  
  
He brushed a tear away from his eye, and looked down at her happy face.  
  
'My sweet, baby. Daddy's little Ann Marie.' he smiled, bitterly, remembering the nickname he had given her.  
  
"My Rogue." 


	11. Through Extracuricular activities

Chapter 167,892...or just 9  
  
  
*BUZZ*BUZZ*BUZZ*  
She threw the covers off of her legs and bolted out of bed. Rubbing her arms for warmth she reached under the bed and grabbed the box with all of her equipment.  
The black leotard that covered her from neck to toe slid easily over her body and the leather gloves made a scrunching noise as she pulled them on. The green chest protector was always a task getting on, but she managed it and pulled on the stretchy fabric beneath it to remove any creases.  
The yellow boots were the last thing she put on. This was her favorite part of the outfit because it was the one piece Proffesor Xavier had allowed her to pick out. Yellow usually wasn't her favorite color, but it was her one conduit and she had stuck with it. The result was a mad clash of black, green, red, and yellow topped off by the white and crimson-brown of her hair.  
She stretched a bit, allowing the stiff suit to settle more comfortably then turned on her heel towards the door.  
As she opened the door light flooded the dark room.   
Suddenly the floor seemed to push and pull her feet and the ground rose up to smack her face.  
The familiar posters and carpet, the bed and all of Kitty's cute little animals faded into oblivion and left the bewildered girl suspeneded, once again, in the blank void of light.  
Rogue pressed her hands to her head, pushing back the pain that flooded in and out.  
"Noooo! Stop!!"  
The pain left but the light that surrounded her burned on and held her in it's endless suspension. The light neither faded, nor grew brighter but still Rogue had to fight to keep her eyes open.  
Over and over again she tried running threw different scenarios in her head, winding down mental paths trying to think of any way she could escape.  
All roads led to nowhere and the throbbing in her head came and went, taunting her with feeling in the senseless abyss.  
Rogue concentrated trying to bring herself back to the comfortable image of her room, thinking back to whatever she might have done that caused the false reality.  
One thing she could figure out, in the lack of knowing nothing, that Jean was to blame. And it might be left to the red-headed priss to  
get her out again.  
  
  
  
  
David slammed the door open and marched over to his special area of the room. The occupants stared up in shock at their leader and followed him with their eyes until he sat down near a group of workers in the corner.  
Sandra greeted him with a smile, but it was soon wiped away when she saw the look on his face.  
"Uh...hi Dave." He brushed her asided and focused on the group next to them.  
A team of four techincians were working hard on what appeared to be a helmet with many various wires protruding from any available area. The pulled, pushed, pryed and punched buttons, knobs and wires into any edivice where they might fit.  
The four's work became tense when they all noticed the watchful pair of eyes glaring at the prototype.  
"Is it done yet?"  
Sandra, noticing the destressed look of the technicians pulled David away and glared at him in the eye. Her friend, Joe, was walking toward them with a determind look on his face but she held up a hand to stop him from talking.  
"Listen, Dave, what's the matter with you?" she put a hand on his arm.  
Joe poked her in the arm, "Sandra..."  
She shooed him away with her hand and remained focused on David.  
"You look like your ready to kill."  
"Sandra..."  
"I don't want to talk about it now, Sandy."  
All right, she thought to herself, he's not using my full name.  
"Well, with the Mutant Radar( the name she came up with herself) ready to go in three hours you have to have a good head on your shoulders."  
"Sandra, this is kindof import..."  
"Three hours?" the veins in his forehead throbbed even more, "I need this done now."  
"If either of you would please listen..."  
Sandra put her hands on her hips, "Well, sorry to tell ya this, but we need more time for this sort of stuff to work properly."  
"This will just take a sec-"  
"What??!!" Both David and Sandra turned to look at the irksome Joe. He jumped back a bit at their outburst but smoothed down his jacket and presented them each with a manilla folder.  
"The blood test has come back!"  
David rolled his eyes and threw the folder on a nearby desk. Sandra, however, thumbed through the papers, perusing over each page for a short while. Sandra stopped at a page with a picture of David paperclipped to it. She pulled it from the rest and read it over.  
Her eyes widened and she looked up to Joe.  
"Are you serious?"  
He nodded, "It's that close of a match..."  
David looked back to the two of them, rubbing a hand through his hair.  
"What are you two talking about?"  
Sandra passed the paper to him.  
"David...the blood work is in...according to DNA tests you could be this mutants father."  
He simply through down the paper with his folder and turned his back to them, and continued to watch the progress of the machine.  
"I will never be the father of a mutant."  
Shaking his head in disgust he headed back out of the door he had entered not five minutes ago.  
Sandra and Joe were left staring at the forgotten pages on the desk.  
  
~~~  
{Author's Insert: I would just like to take the time to say(write) how dissapointed I was with "Day of Reckoning". Aside from the long-awaited arrival of one of my favorite characters(REMY IS HOT!) Ah-hem...it was pretty crappy. It didn't have a plot so much as an extreme desire to give more and more questions that seem like they will never be answered. It didn't really seem like there was any point to the hour-long episode other than to toy with the audience, and that is not cool with me.  
So, whoever out there wants to band with me to write a strongly worded letter to marvel or whoever is working on the new episodes for Season three to get their butts in gear, feel free to write to " cutie_fu@excite.com". By the by...  
REMY IS SOOOOO HOT! DID EVERBODY SEE THAT SCENE BETWEEN ROGUE AND HIM! THAT WAS SEXY!  
back to the fiction...  
  
~~~  
  
The telepath used her mental powers to open the door and float inside of the house. No one was around, but one never knew when Logan would come pouncing down on you. Jean really didn't want to deal with the blood thirsty wolverine.  
She had almost made it to the stairs when the familiar, and even comforting, sound of wheels propelling themselves came into the room.  
"Jean, might I have a word with you?"  
Jean forced the happy, not-a-problem-in-the-world smile on her face and turned to face the man. Blocking her thoughts was childs play.  
"Of course, Professor. What about?"  
He beckoned her with his hand and started down the hallway towards his office.   
For some reason the entire house lay quiet with all the younger occupants scattered at school and such. Jean had stayed home from school feigning a headache from her advancing powers. It was getting too easy to lie to the proffesor.  
He made no attempt to start conversation, as he would usually do, but simply pushed forward until he reached the large, oak doors to his personal office where he pushed them open with a simple flick of his wrist.  
Jean followed him and stood by his desk as he rolled up to it.  
"Jean, I'm going to be honest with you. Lately I've felt quite a bit of hostility coming from you."  
She smiled and tossed her hair over shoulder.  
"Hostility?" she pointed at herself, "I feel fine."  
The proffesor tilted his head and gazed at her with his fatherly look. "Jean, you've been in my care longer than anyone here. I know you. And I think I know what you're doing."  
The plaster facade of happiness was beginning to crack as her resolve began to break. Worst of all the tiny voice in her head was repeating over and over: He knows...he KNOWS!  
"Pardon?" her chirpy voice almost cracked. But the redhead was good at hiding all acpects of her true intentions and so kept the little things in check.  
"I can tell that the whole Rogue situation is starting to get to you."  
The breath caught in her throat as her chest constricted. She stood frozen as the proffesor gazed into her soul. She searched her mind for any possible escape...but what could she do? The proffesor had her trapped! He knew her secrets!  
"Proffesor, I can explain."  
He held up his hand, his signal for immediate silence and attention.  
"There is no need. I can easily relate."  
"I-You can?" Jean blinked back her confusion.  
"I know what it feels like to have someone close to me get hurt. You want revenge on whoever caused the pain...you want them to suffer like you have suffered." he moved closer and patted her hand gently. "Am I right?"  
Jean stared at the old man clearly confused, "Huh?"  
"I know these are difficult times for you, Jean. With your powers, and then all this with Rogue. But you must remember that going after Duncan for hurting Rogue is not excusable."  
He released her hand and moved to his desk where piles of papers were waiting for him to peruse.  
After a minute when he saw she hadn't moved a single inch he promted further:  
"Logan left for the police station so that they can handle it. Just stay away from Duncan , have some faith in our judicial system."  
Jean smiled, involuntarily letting out a deep breath she had been holding.  
"Oh...yes, sure Professor. I see how wrong I was. I won't go near Duncan. Thank you."  
She smiled again and turned on her heel, sending her red hair flying over her shoulder. As soon as she was passed the doorframe she shut the door with her telepathy and leaned against it.  
"Thank you, God."  
Jean walked off, course set for the infirmary.  
  
  
David pushed the rapidly graying hair out of his face and once again changed the station. All that seemed to be on the radio was d.j.s talking about their ex-husbands or ex-wives and about how their children always disobey them...  
And for an hour now he had dealt with it while sitting in Bayville High School's parking Lot. He was keeping his eye out for a particular student. Unfortunately, he had yet to appear and David's patience was becoming worn. His fingers found their way to the dashboard and he drummed out a tune while watching the school.  
Finally a shrill bell filled the air and not ten seconds later the front door of the school were thrown open and teenagers of every shape and size poured out. Some made a beeline towards the parking lot while other stood around watching the doors as carefully as he was. Still others could care less what was going on around them as they latched themselves onto another and started to literally suck on the others face. David winced and looked away slightly revolted.  
He took a quick glance around the parking lot making sure the student he was searching for hadn't left already. David noticed a few students approaching the area near his car and quickly remembered to slip on a pair of black sunglasses. Exposure was not an option at this point in the game. A few of the teenagers stopped at the car to his immediate left and leaned on it, just talking.  
David turned away and watched the doors once again. At last he saw him.  
The boy with the perfect blue eyes and shimmering blond hair. Like a true jock his letter jacket remained stuck to him despite the unseasonally hot weather.  
David unbuckled his seat belt and hopped out of his car, careful not to reveal too much of his face to the teenagers that were everywhere. He slithered between groups of chattering students and tried to keep his eyes on his target, but the boy was starting to move away from him. A large group of cheerleaders were heading towards the football feild and Duncan Mathews was hot on their heels. David was so intent on Duncan that he didn't notice the girl that wasn't watching where she was going either.  
With a small thud books and papers were sent sprawling all over the ground. The pettite blond made a small whining noise, rolled her eyes and then glared up at David.  
"Thanks, much." she snarled and smacked her gum while reaching down for all of her books. David, who felt some remorse, quickly kneeled down and gathered up all of the papers. With a kurt sorry he handed them to her and straitened up.  
Those few seconds had allowed Duncan to slip into the masses.  
"Damn." david cursed under his breath and made a full circle with his body. He scanned for any trace of blond hair, but the quickly thinning crowd left him nearly alone.  
  
  
  
With a thud he found himself slammed against a tree with his belongings crashing to his feet.  
"Summers??!" the blond quarterback was stunned as his attacker threw him into another tree. Hard. Duncan saw small stars surround his periferal vision as he was continually thrown into tree after tree. After a minute or two of this Duncan saw a weakness in Summers step and quickly rammed his foot into the boy's chin. Scott stumbled a bit but used it to throw Duncan harder into one last tree.  
Duncan became dizzy from the assault and started to fall. Scott quickly pushed his forearm into Duncan's throat. He looked down at the beaten football player through his sunglasses.  
"You make me sick. Do you know that?"  
Duncan swallowed and managed to look up at his attacker.  
"Wha?"  
Scott pushed harder causing Duncan to groan.  
"You hurt someone very close to me and if you think I'm going to let you get away with it your wrong. Dead wrong." Scott let go and the boy fell to the trunk of the tree grasping at his throat. Duncan panted for a minute or two allowing his breathing to return to a normal rate.  
He finally looked up at Scott and smirked. "What, those sunglasses finally getting to you?"  
Duncan looked down at his wrinkled shirt a moment before getting up to his feet. He glared at Scott with a confident air.  
"I'd go get a therapy session if I were-"  
With a mighty blow to the face Duncan was down again holding a bleeding nose. Scott quickly grabbed a hold of the boy's shirt and lifted him off of his feet. Before Duncan could get another chance to rip on Scott he found his shirt released and his feet touched ground.  
"What the-?" Duncan opened his eyes to see Scott lying on the ground in an unconcious heap. Above him stood an older man with a heavy stick in his hand. Duncan looked down again and saw that the base of Scott's head was bleeding. He scratched the back of his head and looked back into the face of the other man.  
"Er...Thanks."  
David shook his head and carefully threw Scott over his shoulder.  
"No ,son, thank you. Just don't tell anyone about this, all right?"  
Duncan nodded dumbly, picked up his bags and jogged off to practice without a second glance.  
David shifted the weight on his shoulder, made sure no one was looking and mad a dash to his car. He heaved the teenager in the passengers seat, buckled him in, hoped in the driver's seat and put the pedal to the metal.  
David smiled for the first time since that morning and glanced over at his unconcious hostage. At least he would get some fun beating whatever information this mutant had out of him.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Nooooooooooo! Scott! How could you write that??? How could you leave us there??  
Wait a minute...I know the rest of the story...Oh, okay. He he, finally another chapter, eh? Have fun kiddies! 


	12. No more

This is it, y'all! The final chapter, and the longest. Jeez, 17 pages in Word. Dear heavens---Enjoy!  
  
I don't own anything-no I own my car; yes I had to pay for that. But the x-men, no. Car, yes, X-men, no. Got it? Good? Also don't own Ann Rice books (there's a brief mention).   
  
ENJOY IT OR ELSE! BLAHH!  
  
  
  
  
  
Jean examined her fingers as she rode down the elevator to the lower levels. Even in the low gleam of the elevator lights they sparkled under their coat of 'sparkling lavender'. The tips of her nails were perfectly trimmed to two centimeters away from each fingertip. In short, the nails like the person they were attached to remained perfect in everyway.  
  
Satisfied with her examination she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her weight on her left foot. As the metallic doors slide open she flipped her hair over one shoulder and proceeded to walk out of the confining space.  
  
She was instantly greeted with two options: turn right and burn off some steam in the danger room, or turn left and visit the large medical wing.  
  
Jean turned left and started to count the doors. The first three doors on either side belonged to the medical supply storages. The next seven were smaller examination rooms designed for smaller illnesses and minor aches not requiring immediate attention. The majority of the wing was divided into sections for the emergency centers. It was here that most of the x-men spent their time. Recovering from laser blasts, broken bones, electric shock…  
  
The young telepath ignored most of these and set her eyes on the fourth door on her right. It contained the person she wanted at the moment.  
  
The doors opened when she pushed the button and there she was.  
  
Her eyes were closed and her head was still propped against the massive amounts of pillows behind her head. In the exact way she had left her.  
  
Jean looked from side to side and found that neither Beast nor the filthy little runaway were in the room.  
  
'Mr. McCoy must have finally moved him out of ICU. Dirty punk, all he had was a minor scratch.'  
  
Using her mental powers Jean summoned a small stool to the side of Rogue's bed and sat down. She leaned her arms on the rails and glared at the unconscious girl. The closed eyes were moving rapidly beneath their pale lids. The eyelashes twitched from second to second erratically.  
  
'Dreaming…'  
  
"I hope it's a nightmare you're stuck in, Rogue." Jean spoke aloud to the living corpse, "That's all you've left me with here, you know. I used to be the only one Scott could turn to. I was the one everybody counted on. I was the perfect one!" she felt her jaw clenching and released it.  
  
"The same thing happened back at my house, with my family, you know that? I never had any younger sisters or brothers. I was the only one my parents loved. Then it changed. They started fighting all of the time and then they got the divorce. They stopped showering me with attention and soon stopped seeing me at all. My father sent me here. You know the rest. First the others showed up, I could deal with them for the most part and then you showed up. You just had to be so different! No one paid attention to me anymore!" Jean punched at the rails and stood up.  
  
"That's why I started dating Duncan, Rogue! It was unheard of in this house to get that close to a normal person! And suddenly you were forgotten. Scott wanted to be with me, not you. I was in the spot light once again.  
  
"And as soon as I give you over to the Friends of Humanity, I'll make sure they leave everyone at the institute alone. Don't worry no one will miss you. I'll just tell them all you decided to run away. Nobody will care."  
  
Jean smiled once again leaning over the rail and getting dangerously close to Rogue's face. She held her hand over the girl's face and spread her fingers wide. Jean waved her hand back and forth a few times and then spoke to the prone girl.  
  
"Wake up, Rogue."  
  
While one second she was completely still the next her body flinched and her eyes fluttered open.  
  
Rogue instantly saw Jean and threw her a puzzled look. But it seemed she didn't care as much about seeing the girl as actually be able to feel. She felt the bed against her back, the sheets around her body and the painful needle in her arm. Rogue was free.  
  
As soon as she asserted she was in the real world she glared up at Jean.  
  
"What's going on?" she spoke in an angry but hoarse voice.  
  
"You'll know soon enough." She mentally commanded a wheelchair over and then concentrated on Rogue's body. The small, weak girl thrashed in the air but soon found that Jean's telepathy was far too strong for someone in her condition to fight. And then she found she didn't have to fight. There was a scuffle and Rogue found her body dropping, and then slamming into the bed rail before she hit the ground with a painful thud.  
  
Somehow she managed to look up to see Jean slumped half on half off the bed. She looked around and soon found her savior with the demon eyes glaring at the unconscious telepath.  
  
He was instantly at her side gently pulling her to her feet. Remy finally saw the questions in her eyes and hesitated before pulling a deck of cards into his pocket.  
  
"Listen, Chere, Remy gonna get you outta 'dis place. Red over 'dere is looney. You not safe here."  
  
Out of the confusion of just waking up out of that void and then the sudden attack by Jean Rogue still managed to resist a bit and narrow her eyes at the handsome boy.  
  
"Ya can't just expect me ta' leave mah' home!"  
  
With speed even Wolverine couldn't match, he was pressed against her with a gloved hand running up her arm.  
  
"I di'int save you just ta' have Chere thrown inta' more danger, heah?" He summoned his power of charm and let it seep through his skin, out of his eyes, out of every fiber of his being so that the unwilling girl would settle down and obey his requests. She soon started emitting the too familiar warmth, and her eyes drooped slightly. As she started to drop he pressed her body against his holding her limp form in the crook of his arm.  
  
"Jus' let Remy do all de' work fo' Chere, oui?"  
  
Rogue nodded slightly while Remy slowly pulled out the needle in her arm. He was fairly sure that he had done it incorrectly when a small trickle of blood began pouring from the spot, but ignored it and picked up the light body. Her glazed eyes told him she was off in la-la land, safe and sound.  
  
He walked toward the door, checking all around for anyone coming, and slipped out the door. Remy looked back on Jean, collapsed on the bed and grinned.  
  
"Good luck wit' de' plan, Rouge*."  
  
And, as always with the thief, he was gone in the space of a breath.  
  
  
*Rouge as in the French way to say "red" not a typo of Rogue's name.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Come on, kid, sooner you tell me something, the sooner we can get you some medical attention for that eye. Look at you, you can't even open 'em."  
  
Scott ignored the jabs, both physical and verbal, as he sat in the dark being assaulted by what appeared to be only one man. He had found his glasses gone as soon as he regained consciousness, and since had been forced to keep his eyes closed. He grit his teeth and struggled against the metal bands on his wrists. Blood was running down his hands, which at least allowed the shackles to slip a bit.  
  
That's right, Scott, ignore the pain and use everything to your advantage, he kept telling himself. You've been through danger sessions worse than this, you must have. Don't say anything.  
  
Suddenly he felt himself being lifted off the ground and his head slamming into the wall behind him. Scott could smell and feel his breath as he leaned into the teenager.  
  
"I don't have time for this! Tell me something!"  
  
Scott bit his lip, refusing to give the jerk anything.  
  
A door opened and slammed then footsteps approached.  
  
"David!!"  
  
Scott could tell from the voice it was a woman, a young one at that, and prayed that she might be here to help.  
  
So optimistic.  
  
"Sandra, get out of here."  
  
A gasp, "What are you doing to that kid??"  
  
Great, sympathy! Maybe she could help him.  
  
"Please-" Scott managed to spit out.  
  
For his courage he was rewarded with another slap across the face.  
  
"Shut up, you! Sandra, don't feel sorry for him, he's a mutie."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Well there went his hope.  
  
"Where did you find him? Use the mutant radar?"  
  
"No, I saw him beating up a kid."  
  
"A kid that beat up my friend!" Scott found his anger growing and his self-control waning.  
  
"Probably a freak like you."  
  
"Rogue is not a…" Scott bit the inside of his cheek as he realized that he had let go of some very valuable information. He slammed his own head against the wall behind him. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid.'  
  
"Rogue…" David turned his head towards the voice. It was the same guy that had been questioning him, but his voice was soft, almost kind when he said it.  
  
"Isn't that the freak that the kid beat up?" there was a rustling of papers. "Yeah! It is." Scott heard the click-click of high heels as they approached him.  
  
"You a friend of this 'Rogue', kid?" the woman's tone picked up the man's cold one, "You know we helped out the kid that did it."  
  
"Stop it, Sandra." It was barely a whisper as Scott felt the hands leave his shirt. He let himself slid down the wall.  
  
The voices now argued above him.  
  
"It's true isn't it, David?"  
  
Scott strained to hear as the voices got quieter.  
  
"Sandy…I…"  
  
"Well, God, David…just because you helped create the thing doesn't make you responsible for it."  
  
'Create the thing? Were they talking about…?'  
  
"Jeez, Sandy, it's not like you and your mother. You two were never close, right? My kid and me were. Her mother I'll never forgive, but she was my little girl!"  
  
Sandra let out a sigh, "David, this "Rogue" isn't your daughter. She hasn't been your daughter for ten years." There was a sigh, "If we start to feel sorry for these…freaks, who knows what they could do to us?"  
  
"We are not freaks!" Scott fought against opening his eyes to look at the woman.  
  
Click-click and he felt hot breath on his face.  
  
"If not why do you hide?"  
  
Scott talked through the small gaps in his clenched teeth.  
  
"Because…humans…" he tried to make it sound as venomous and horrible as possible, " are stupid enough to fear what they don't understand."  
  
"You dirty little-."  
  
A rustle of clothing.  
  
"Sandra! Put it down!"  
  
Another click, but not from high heels.  
She aimed the gun at Scott's forehead, right between the eyes. But she wouldn't get the chance to fire it.  
  
Because Scott decided that if he didn't open his eyes he would never live to regret it.  
  
So he slowly opened them and Sandra never got the chance to blink before she was enveloped in a ray of burning light.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Chere, you must walk fasta' den dat. Remy be tryin' to escape, non play hide an' seek."  
  
Rogue's retort was cut down to a lethal glare to his backside. She wanted to be mad at him for managing to force her out of the house, but found that she couldn't. An insult would bubble its way up from her chest, only to die on the tip of her tongue when he would like back and check on her progress. Those two demonic eyes of his kept her in place without really trying to.  
  
It annoyed Rogue that she couldn't be angry with the young man guiding her to safety. Sarcasm and insults were walls that she used to keep people away from her. If those failed then people could get close to her, and get hurt. Rogue really didn't want to hurt people, but she especially didn't want to end up sending this particular man into a coma.  
  
She raised her gloved hand to her forehead to wipe off some sweat. Even though the night was fairly chilly her body was a furnace. The time she was trapped in Jean's little mind abyss left her weak and what little strength she had she was loosing with each step.  
  
Rogue didn't even know she had stopped walking and was beginning to fall until she felt two, strong arms supporting her.   
  
"Chere!"  
  
"Don't touch me!" her war cry was cut down to a mild yelp.  
  
"Merde, Chere. You wearin' gloves and Remy wearin' gloves. C'est bien, non?"  
  
She pulled herself away and stood up. Rogue threw him an apologetic look and crossed her arms.  
  
"Sorry. Force of habit."  
  
Remy winked at her and started to walk forward. "Remy let it go. Only because chere is too pretty to be holdin' a grudge wit'."  
  
Rogue smiled as she followed closely behind the Cajun charmer. A few minutes passed in silence before she became annoyed.  
  
"Do ya even know where we're goin'?"  
  
"Oui, Remy always know where he is. Remy leadin' Chere to a safe place where…"  
  
"You are so lost, ain't ya'?"  
  
Remy glared over his shoulder but kept walking.  
  
"If chere doesn't like Remy's plan she can always be backtrackin' back to de' Institute, non?"  
  
Rogue thought about the redheaded telepath lying unconscious on the bed and decided to quicken her pace to walk by the Cajun's side. Remy smiled smugly down on the girl and had to mentally slap himself from reaching over and laying his hand on the small of her back. Most girls would be gracious of his flirting, but he had a feeling that this particular young lady would make him regret it. Instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out his latest pack of cards from his pocket. They were a cheap pack but they had been the only ones available at the Institute so he had made due with stealing them until he could make it to a store with cards of his caliber to steal.  
  
Remy looked around his surroundings as he shuffled the cards subconsciously with only his right hand. They were in the woods approximately a mile or two from the edge of town. On the ground was a carpet of dead leaves that was covered by layer of new frost. He watched as his breath came out in small clouds of vapors. Chere's was doing the same, but she was almost panting from the strenuous walking.  
  
"Does chere want Remy to-."  
  
"No."  
  
"Remy only want-."  
  
"No."  
  
"Would Chere just-"  
  
"No. No. No!" Rogue spun on her heels to face him. He was standing with crossed arms looking at her with an air of surprise.  
  
"Listen here, I really appreciate you saving me…twice now, but I'm a big girl and I don't like it when people treat me like some doll. Got it?" She placed her hands on her hips and waited for a response.  
  
She received one in the form of Remy wrapping his arms around her waist and pinning her to a nearby tree.   
  
"Remy say you welcome, and he never thought of Chere as a doll." He smiled and continued walking.  
  
Rogue coughed and composed herself before taking a few steps forward. She was forced to stop, however; when a bright beam of light flew into the sky from someplace close by.  
  
"Chere! Get down!" Remy grabbed her hand and tackled her to the ground while covering her with his own body.  
  
Rogue gazed up at the beam of light looking at the red flare for a while before something clicked in her mind.  
  
"I know that beam! It's Scott!"  
  
Remy looked at her and then the beam.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"It's Cyclops! One of the mutants at the institute." She pushed Remy off and jumped to her feet, "We hafta' help."  
  
Remy stood up slowly, dusted off the leaves from his coat and jolted after her. It was easy to overcome her while she remained in her weak state.  
  
"Does Chere not grasp 'de concept of runnin' away?"  
  
Rogue glared at him, "I think Scott needs some help."  
  
Remy rolled his red on black eyes and kept pace with her, "'Dey might be tryin' capture you, did ya 'dink of 'dat, chere?"  
  
The girl shook her head as she kept her gaze focused on the spot in the sky where the light had come from. " I don't know how ta' explain it but I just got a feelin' that Scott needs help."  
  
The Cajun's glare hardened. He was the first in line to admit he had a problem with jealousy and the fewer males mentioned in his presence the happier he was.  
  
He would just have to show the young Chere how much better she was with him than the Cyclopes when he came to the young leader's rescue. The Cajun smirked thinking of having to throw the boy over his shoulder like a damsel in distress to save him. Remy picked up the pace a bit and within seconds it was Rogue trying to catch up with the Ragin' Cajun.  
  
  
  
  
  
Hank McCoy sauntered down the hallway towards the med-lab. Using three of his appendages for walking and one for carrying a tray he approached the room that held the currently (to the best of his knowledge) comatose Rogue. On it was a dinner of steak, biscuits and gravy for the newest member of the X-men. To the side of the food was a brand new deck of cards.  
  
He had enjoyed the demonstration of the young boys powers as both a mutant and a cunning slight of hand wizard. The Beast couldn't decide which skill he was more impressed with the movement of energy into any object or the way the boy had been able to beat him out of one hundred dollars within a minute.  
  
As the doors swished open the last thing the Beast expected was the site lying before him.  
  
Rogue was gone.  
  
Remy LeBeau was gone.  
  
Jean was lying on the bed, unconscious and sporting a few bruises.  
  
The professor who had been sitting by the bed hovering a hand over her face opened his eyes and shook his head. Hank McCoy finally regained sense enough to shut his mouth and voice the hundred or so questions running through his advanced mind.  
  
With his years of schooling and the constant trek for a higher education and intellect the words that spilled out of his mouth was a far cry from his usually Shakespearean prose.  
  
"Whaaa?"  
  
Charles Xavier smiled in the all-knowing way of his and rolled away from the bed.  
  
"Precisely."  
  
The Beast put the tray down on a nearby table and walked over to the sleeping telepath. With one large paw he scratched at the fine, blue furs of his chin and contemplated all that could have happened.  
  
"I presume the young mister LeBeau is gone and has taken our injured Rogue with him."  
  
"Yes, but I'm afraid that doesn't even cover half of what has been going on underneath our noses." The man shook his head, the weariness showing in the wrinkles around his eyes.  
  
The Beast grabbed a stool and carefully lowered his massive form on the tiny chair.  
  
"Please elaborate."  
  
"Jean's mental shields have been lowered. Unfortunately when I went through her mind to try to find out what happened I found some rather disturbing information." He swallowed, trying to rid himself of the taste of bile that had found its way to his throat, "Apparently when she found out that it was Duncan Mathews responsible for Rogue's injuries Jean sent her into a…an…"  
  
" A coma?" Hank offered.  
  
"No…It was more or a state of brain dead. Jean is holding a lot of hostility against Rogue for some reason, but I was unable to find out why."  
  
"I would never have seen Jean for the vindictive type."  
  
The professor nodded rolling forward, facing away from his once prized student.  
  
" There's still more." The Beast raised an eyebrow; " She also sold out Rogue's mutant identity to a rising group known as Friends of Humanity."  
  
Hank stared at the professor.  
  
"Tonight she planned to bring Rogue to them, in exchange they would leave Bayville. It appears that Mr. LeBeau interceded before Jean could get Rogue out."  
  
The Beast ran his large paw through his blue mane.  
  
"I…I don't know what to say…what are we going to do?"  
  
"First, we must-."  
  
"Professor!" He was interrupted as Kitty phased through the wall with Kurt on her heels, "Professor! On the- Hey, what's wrong with Jean?"  
  
Xavier wheeled toward her, "Never mind that, what's the matter, Kitty?"  
  
The Shadow Cat shook her head trying to get back on track.  
"It's Scott. His car is still at the school and he hasn't come home yet!"  
  
"Ja! And on ze news! Zere is a huge fire in the woods! Zey showed Scott's beam."  
  
The professor needed no more. He raised his hands to his temples and began calling out to each person in the house.  
  
Ororo was in the greenhouse watering a few of her plants before dinner. She was working on a few of her oldest roses when she heard it.  
  
Evan was in mid-air completing a 180 turn as the call rang through his brain.  
  
The new recruits were in the process of sneaking some pre-dinner snacks when the voice sounded through their heads. All fell flat on their faces, startled.  
  
"X-men. Suit up and meet by the blackbird. Now."  
  
Kurt and Kitty nodded. The Shadow Cat grabbed Kurt's fuzzy hand and the two disappeared in a puff of smoke.  
  
"Hank, give Jean a sedative and then lock this room up. When we have all the students back in this house then we will deal with her."  
  
The Beast nodded.  
  
The Professor threw one last disgusted look toward his once prized student and began wheeling himself to the Launch area to meet with his X-men.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The cold atmosphere of the night wasn't conducive to Scott's current situation. His shirt was ripped and exposed his cuts to the raw wind.  
  
He held his injured shoulder as he limped through what he could only guess to be the woods. Every few feet he found himself tripping over what he assumed were roots and stones. Of course he could always open his eyes and find out where he was. And of course he would get caught.  
  
Scott tripped on a rock and flew face first into a nearby tree. He swallowed a scream, remembering that he was supposed to be covert. Instead he bit his tongue and raised his hand to the injured side of his face. He brushed away the bits of bark from his face and hissed as his fingers grazed the bleeding scratches on his face.  
  
"Why does everything happen to me?" he whispered to himself.  
  
"Merde Chere, You even know where you goin'?"  
  
Scott froze and threw himself on the ground. He used some breathing techniques Logan had taught him to drown out the noises of his body and focus on the noise around him.  
  
There was some rustling of leaves and footsteps a few yards off to his right.  
  
"Will you shut up, Swamp Rat? We must be getting' closa'."  
  
""Swamp Rat"? Ah, mon petite, Remy is touched."  
  
'Remy? The boy!' If he was in the woods then maybe that other southern accent belonged to…  
  
"Rogue!" He whispered as loudly as he could.  
  
The gothic mutant twirled in all directions searching for the source of the voice.  
  
"Remy, did ya hear that?"  
  
"Oui, get down, petite."  
  
Scott decided to stand up and reveal himself. "Rogue!" he risked a louder call, "It's Scott!"  
  
Rogue turned to her left and saw the young leader stand up. She gasped as she took in his injured form. The missing goggles also caught her attention.  
  
Within seconds she had crossed over to him and enveloped him in one of her rare hugs. He was surprised to find himself being embraced by the young woman but easily reciprocated and wrapped his one good arm around her. The hug only lasted a few seconds before she broke away.  
  
"We saw your beam in the sky. What happened?"  
  
"Look, Rogue, we've got some bad people out here. Let's get back to the institute and I'll explain there."  
  
A few feet away he heard a deep chuckle. Remy.  
  
"What's so funny?" Scott demanded.  
  
"Just dat Remy an petite here have just made a hasty retreat from de institute of yours."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We've got some explain' to do to, Scott. But we do have to get out of here." Rogue answered. Scott felt someone grab his arm, "Listen, I know you won't like it but let's just head over to the brotherhood an-."  
  
"No."  
  
"But-."  
  
"No. Listen to me, Rogue." Scott blindly reached out and grabbed her shoulders, "We can go back to the institute. Whatever he" the leader of the X-men jabbed his head in the general direction of Remy, " told you is wrong. No matter what you do you always have a home with the X-men."  
  
Scott heard a rustling of fabric and felt Rogue being pulled out of his grasp.  
  
"Listen, ami, dat may sound all fine an' dandy in yo' happy land, but in dis situation fairy tales ain't gonna work. Comprenezvous? An' if you don' mind ol' Remy askin', why don' you open yo' eyes?"  
  
"Because, Swamp Rat, if he does that beam we saw will shoot out and let everyone know where we are."  
  
"Oui? 'Dat must suck."  
  
"That's one way of putting it." Scott rolled his eyes underneath the closed lids, "Those people took my glasses before they started interrogating me."  
  
"Glasses?"  
  
"The Professah designed special glasses so he could see without hurtin' anything."  
  
"You mean like" Remy fished in his pocket and held out an open palm to Rogue with a pair of sunglasses in it, "Dis?"  
  
"Did you steal these from the mansion?"  
  
"Old habits die hard, chere."  
  
Scott heard a grunt of exasperation before he felt something being slipped over his face.   
  
"Don't worry, Scott. The Swamp Rat just happened to steal a pair of yours."  
  
He gently pushed Rogue out of his line of vision before he slowly opened his eyes. He assumed from the unharmed Remy directly in front of him that the glasses were indeed his. Rogue was smiling at his side as he turned to face her. He frowned taking in her shallow cheeks, bags under her eyes, and over all swaying form.  
  
"Come on, Rogue. You've got to get back to the med-wing."  
  
She raised an eyebrow, "After you." Rogue motioned for him to start walking and smiled at him.  
  
From the corner of his eye he saw Remy snarl and turn away.  
  
"Whateva'. Let's just get out of des' woods now."  
  
  
  
Although he had been unconscious David knew he had been out for about half an hour. He tried pushing off the heavy bar from his chest but it was too much with one of his arms still pinned down below him.  
  
He spat out some dust from his mouth and cleared away and debris from his eyes. Above him the moon was shining through a hole in the roof. A few feet from him he heard many voices calling out to him. Someone stepped on his stomach and he screamed out in pain.  
  
"He's over here!"  
  
David recognized the voice of Joe and tried to see him over the rubble around his body. The bar was lifted off his chest and the cold air rushed into his lungs in large gasps.  
  
Joe's face loomed over him as he tried to sit up.  
  
"Woah, there. Don't move until we can check you out first."  
  
"The mutant?"  
  
Joe shook his head, "He got away. But we have about fifty men searching for him. Don't worry, David, he's not getting away.  
  
David nodded, "What about Sandy? She was in here too."  
  
The other man bit his lip, trying to phrase an appropriate answer.  
  
"David, we just pulled her from the rubble a few minutes ago. We used CPR. She's just barely staying with us."  
  
The older man growled and pulled himself from debris, disregarding the pain in his side. Joe tried to get him to calm down but David  
pushed him to the ground. He turned on his stunned comrade and ran over to where a group was standing around a still figure. The commander threw people aside and glared down in disbelief at his friend.   
  
There was a piece of metal at her side, tinted with blood, and a huge red stain all over her abdomen Burn marks were all over her arms and face. The ends of her hair were burnt black.  
  
Without thinking he reached out and grabbed the arm of a person passing by him.  
  
"Call headquarters and tell them to send out their special units and-."  
  
"We already have sir. They should be arriving within the hour. And they also said they'd be sending over Mr. Hutton."  
  
"Great. Then maybe we can get some freaking control over these mutants!" He saw some of his comrades with their heads hanging down. Someone came forward and covered her broken form with a blanket to give her warmth. Another man came forward to pick up the girl and brought her inside.  
  
Joe walked towards him. David finally made eye contact.  
  
"I want that freak brought back here. Preferably alive to I can kill him myself."  
  
  
  
  
  
"X-men. It's important that you all listen to me. Scott is in some trouble. We can only assume that he used his power to save himself. Rogue and the boy Remy have vanished. Logan, Kurt; you two go and find Rogue. Ororo, Hank take the rest of the team and find Scott. We might be dealing with an army of people who hate mutants. Also, you will need to attend to the small fire that is out in the woods." He nodded at his team and they spread out.  
  
Logan grabbed Kurt's hand leaving the room through a cloud of smoke and haze of sulfur.  
  
The Professor loaded the Blackbird with his team and they took off.  
  
One figure remained, watching the sky as the plane took flight. She pulled back her red hair as the artificially created wind flung it in all directions.  
  
"Scott?" she whispered to the empty hanger.  
  
"Don't worry, Scott. I'm coming to help." She smiled and lifted herself into the air, trailing the Blackbird.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hey, Remy, you mind slowing down a bit. I don't think Rogue can keep this pace."  
  
Scott pulled up on a barely conscious Rogue that was leaning on him for support. He patted her shoulder trying to keep her awake.  
  
"S-S-Sorry, Sc-scott. It's just so cold."  
  
Her lips were turning blue and there was hardly any heat radiating off of her.  
  
"It's okay, Rogue. The institute is just about a mile down the road."  
  
"I really wish we could go the sh-shorta way."  
  
"I know, sorry about that. But whoever took me might be checking the main road." Scott looked ahead at the small street that ran through the woods. Street lamps were rare down the street, which was best for staying hidden, and they walked most of the way in darkness. Remy, however, kept feeling the need to take a card, light it, and through it to the ground and watch as it exploded.  
  
Scott shook his head as Remy did it again, igniting a Queen of diamonds before tossing it to the gravel.  
  
"Scott, it's too cold…" he felt Rogue slipping through his arms but before he could grab her Remy turned and caught her. Remy landed on his knees, supporting Rogue by her upper-arms. Their noses were within a few millimeters of touching.  
  
The card-dealing mutant slowly rose, bringing Rogue up with him. He started wriggling out of his trench coat while supporting her with the crook of his arm.  
  
"If chere was cold, she shoulda told Remy." He gave her a lopsided grin as he pulled her arms through the large sleeves. The coat was far too long and big for the small frame it was one but Rogue smiled all the same. It was warm, and the rich, musky scent on it comforted and strengthened her.  
  
"Thanks, swamp rat."  
  
"All right, red-eye, let's get going, non? Remy don wanna stay-." His own red eyes widened, "Get off de road!" Remy pulled Rogue into his arms and dragged her off the road into a ditch. Scott turned to see dark car without its lights on speeding down the street headed in their direction. He limped to the side and threw himself down.  
  
He pressed his back to the dirt wall of the ditch and listened for the car to pass. It did after a minute, showering the three in fallen leaves and gravel. Remy held his arm over Rogue to protect her. His warm breath blew on her face. Rogue inhaled it, once again smelling the musk and spice. She looked up to find that his eyes were searching out her own.  
  
Remy LeBeau found himself intrigued by the eyes that seemed to flicker between green and gray. A persistent strand of white hair kept falling in her face, which he subconsciously brushed away with his gloved hand.  
  
Rogue couldn't seem to look away from his eyes, though her cheeks were burning for staring at him the way she was. But his eyes were just so unlike anything she had ever seen. They were the darkest black mixed with sanguineous pupils.  
  
Their interlude was interrupted by a screech of tires and a loud thud.  
  
Scott immediately took the leader role and motioned for the two to stay down. He slowly stood up and peeked over the edge of the road. A few hundred feet up the road the car was still. It was lying on its side, half in the ditch, and the other half sticking up in the air. There was no motion within the car: no one was trying to get out.  
  
He remained still watching to make sure all remained motionless before he beckoned for Rogue and Remy to stand up.   
  
"That car that passed us is lying in a ditch up ahead. I don't see anyone, but we can't go past it. We're going to have to head back and find another-."  
  
"What are you talkin' about, Scott?"  
  
Cyclopes turned to a clearly agitated Rogue.  
  
"We can't risk sneaking past them so we-."  
  
"I can't believe what your sayin'! We can't just leave 'em in there, we hafta help!" Rogue began to climb out of the ditch and head toward the car.  
  
"Rogue, stop!" Scott hopped up and grabbed her arm, "They'll be fine, we'll call 911 when we get to the mansion."  
  
Rogue ripped her arm away from him and almost fell over in the process. Remy managed to once again catch her in time and support her.  
  
"We're X-men! We help people." She turned on heel and started walking towards the car.  
  
Remy gave Scott a cocky grin and jerked a thumb in Rogue's direction.  
  
"I like her."  
  
He turned and caught up with Rogue and wrapped an arm around her shoulder for support.  
  
Scott sighed, rubbed his temples and jogged to catch up with them.  
  
They reached the still running car and looked inside the windows to see who was inside. On the driver's side, which was lying on the ground, was a young man. His head was lying on the broken glass of his window; his temple was bleeding and covered his face with blood. In the passengers seat was an elderly man with short white hair. His seatbelt was the only thing keeping him from falling onto the other person. And although he appeared uninjured he was still unconscious.  
  
"All right" Rogue drawled approaching the car. A gust of wind blew her hair and coat tails backwards as she reached out to grab the car door. Remy approached her and gently pulled her back.  
  
"Listen here, chere, you might want to let de boys handle dis one, non? Don't want you passin' out o' any' tin' before we can rescue dem."  
  
Once again he let the charm flow between their two bodies. She nodded and sat down in a daze.  
  
Scott, concerned over her obedience waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't respond but sat and gazed at Remy as he opened the car door.  
  
"What did you do to her?" Scott asked, becoming angry with the arrogant young man.  
  
"It's Remy's charm. All de belles fall fo' it. Keeps 'em nice and agreeable."  
  
Scott shook his head and moved away from Rogue and held open the door while Remy perched on the side.  
  
"You should shut the car off first. We really don't need any explosions right now."  
  
Remy nodded and reached down slowly toward the keys. His arms brushed the older mans chest, which caused him to freeze. But the man remained unconscious so Remy kept on. With a flick of his wrist he turned of the car and pocketed the keys. He reached over towards the driver and checked for a pulse. It was there, alive and strong; same with the old man.  
  
The thief wriggled out of the car and turned toward Scott.  
  
"They're both alive, just out of it. We just gotta be careful moving dem outta dere."  
  
"All right, let's do it."  
  
The two started the task of removing the old man's seat belt. He started to hunk over but Remy pulled him out, careful to keep his neck strait. He laid him down next to Rogue who kept giving him warm looks. Scott was already working on the other man's belt (AN: yes, read it again, it can sooooo be taken out of context for perverse uses). He made sure that all glass was away from the driver's face before he lifted him out by his arms. By the time Scott managed to lay the man out on the road the elderly man was already stirring.  
  
The glazed over look in Rogue's eye started to disappear. She rubbed at each eye and shook her head trying to shake off the warm feeling surging through her. The mutant glared at Remy.  
  
"Don't do that again, Cajun. That's creepy."  
  
Remy smiled at her. "I 'tink you like dat more den you let on, petite."  
  
"Uhhh, where...where am I?" came a weak voice tinged with a British accent.  
  
The old man sat up and rubbed at his head. Rogue stood aside as Remy helped the man up.  
  
"Be all right now, m'sier. We just pulled you from de car dat had fallen over."  
  
The man nodded, accepting it and looked down to his left where he companion was still lying unconscious on the street.  
  
"Oh, dear heavens! He's really gone and messed himself up this time." He shook his head and knelt down to the injured man, " I keep telling him to take it slower on these icy roads, but he never listens." He removed a white handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the blood on the mans forehead, "I supposed he will be feeling that in the morning." The old man stood up and turned to face his rescuers, "But I'm being terribly rude. My name is Richard Hutton. Thank you for rescuing me."  
  
Richard reached out and took Scott's hand, raising an eyebrow at the disheveled state of the young man. "Looks like you've been having a rough evening there, lad." He turned toward Remy, but immediately stumbled back.  
  
"What's wrong with you're eyes, child? And you," he pointed a Scott, "wearing sunglasses at night. You're mutants aren't you??" The old man pressed a hand towards his heart. Rogue stepped in front of Remy, pushing him back a bit.  
  
"Sir, if y'all will just listen for a second, y'all can understand that we aren't gonna hurt ya." She motioned towards the car and the man on the ground, "We were just tryin' to help."  
  
Richard gazed at her, about to comment on her abnormal hair and mutants inability to help any normal person when the white streaks picked at something in his brain. Something about the white and reddish-brown hair mixed with the green eyes…!  
  
"Tell me…is those white bangs of yours…natural?"  
  
Rogue glanced at Scott who just shrugged.  
  
"Yeah, ah've always had 'em."  
  
That only heightened his suspicions.  
  
"Ann Marie?"  
  
Rogue raised her eyebrow and took a step back, "I don't go by that name anymore…"  
  
"My God…" Richard reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Within the leather folds he pulled out a worn picture. He looked down at it; looked at her, then back again. After a minute of staring at the picture he lifted his hand to touch the white hair hanging in her face. Out of instinct she jerked away, but something in the old man's eyes held her and she let him caress her hair.  
  
Richard met her confused stare.  
  
"My word, you don't even remember who I am. Do you, Ann Marie?"  
  
The skeptic, anti-social Goth took over her persona as she crossed her arms.  
  
"I go by Rogue."  
  
"Don't use that tone with me, young lady." All three mutants looked surprised, "I'm the one who helped give you that nickname, I believe." He smiled in a manner only a grandfather or old relative could, "I remember the way you acted around other children, my dear. Always hanging on the outside, being your own leader and follower. I can't believe you've stuck with it all these years."  
  
"All right, now you're scarin' me. How do you know all this?" She took another step back. Only then did she feel the warm hand pressed against the small of her back. Rogue glance through her peripheral vision at Remy who was fixated on the man in front of them.  
  
Richard smile widened, "Why, I'm your god-father, my dear. In fact, I was on my way to meet your father when my car skidded."  
  
Remy felt her body start to lean against his hand and he moved once again to catch her as her legs gave out.   
  
"God-father? Father? I don't…I never…"  
  
Her eyes rolled back before she could complete her sentiments.  
  
" Oh dear heavens, "the old man proclaimed as Remy picked up the limp girl, "I didn't mean to scare the poor thing. Goodness, gracious." He moved to push the hair off of her forehead but Remy jerked her away.  
  
"Wouldn't do dat. De chere here, she got poisonous skin. Not exactly good for de continued health, eh?"  
  
"So, she's a mutant as well…no wonder David gave her up."  
  
"David?" Remy questioned.  
  
"Rogue's father." Richard and David asked at the same time. Richard turned.  
  
"How did you know that?"  
  
Scott stepped forward, briefly glancing at Rogue, and turned to Richard.  
  
"He kidnapped me from school and started "Interrogating" me." The young leader pointed at his cuts and bruises, "I only escaped with my life by using my power."  
  
"Power?"  
  
"If I were to take off these glasses and open my eyes you would be shot by a laser beam."  
  
"Ah, so you are the reason I was called all the way out here." The old man ran a hand through his hair, "You know that you almost killed one of them."  
  
Scott hung his head.  
  
" I had no other choice. They were literally holding a gun to my head. I had no other choice." The last part was barely a whisper.  
  
Richard sighed and rubbed at his eyes.  
  
"It seems as if things aren't so simple anymore. There are more of your kind in this area, aren't there?"  
  
"I'm not disclosing any information to a complete stranger."  
  
Richard nodded and patted the boy's shoulder. "Whoever raised you, raised you smart, that for sure. But you've got to get your kind out of the Bayville area."  
  
"What?" Scott pushed away his hand.  
  
"That's why they called me out here to the middle of nowhere. I'm the head of Friends of Humanity. We're trying to get the mutants under control." He raised a hand to calm to hateful stares; "We've built a device that will let us find you, no matter where you hide. But there's a great deal of soldiers on the way, and already a great deal here. They won't stop until all of you." A frown came to his lips as he looked over Scott's shoulder and looked at Rogue, "Every single one of you is locked up and caged."   
  
He stomped his foot and threw his head back, making a growling noise.  
  
"I hate when my conscious plays games with me. Bloody hell. Could you get in contact with your team?" He gazed at Scott who responded by glaring.  
  
'If I had a team they would have seen my beam set the forest on fire, and would notice I was gone by now. They'll be out searching for me and Rogue."  
  
"A-hem."  
  
"And him." Scott jerked a thumb behind him.  
  
"Merci."  
  
"Listen, boys, I have a proposition for you." Richard pushed aside his jacket and removed a gun from his shoulder holster. Assuming they were being attacked the two other men jumped back; Scoot brought his hand up to remove his sunglasses. They were pleasantly surprised when he took out the magazine and handed the gun to Scott. "Here's what I'm thinking. You come with me back to the base and we try to reason this thing out before both sides end up killing each other. Fair enough?"  
  
Scott shook his head; "We've got to get Rogue back to the mansion. She's too weak to be out here this long. I don't even know why she was brought out here in the first place." He shot a look at Remy who only smiled and pulled Rogue closer to him.  
  
"Well, my boy, sorry to sound like a monster, but she could really be key to turning this whole battle around. David loved his daughter very much; maybe she'll make him see reason if everything else fails. And besides, they're sure to have an expert medical team out here with them. How else were they going to fix up those boys you, " he pointed at Remy, "beat up."  
  
"Remy was only savin' de damsel in distress."  
  
Richard noticed the affectionate glance at Rogue.  
  
"Yes well, do we have a deal?" he held his hand out to Scott to accept.  
  
The leader looked wary, "What caused you to change your mind about mutants?"  
  
The older man nodded and smiled in a knowing way, "I have a very strict code of honor. My friend and I might have been stuck in that car for hours, freezing slowly to death. You deserve my gratitude. And also, if my god-child, who was the closest thing I ever got to a grandchild or daughter, is a mutant, then maybe I should reexamine my views."  
  
Cyclopes took the still offered hand and leaned down to pick up the unconscious driver.  
  
"All right. Lead on."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Logan was growing expediently more agitated with the smell of brimstone and sulfur each time they "bamfed" to a new location. His heightened sense of smell was driving him mad with the constant leaps they were making.  
  
The two had just come from the high school, and before the Brotherhood house. Fortunately the members were working on some outrageous plan to get back at Duncan to notice the two X-men sneaking around their house.  
  
Kurt ported them to a section of the woods and let go of Logan's hand. The fuzzy elf looked up at the older man as Logan sniffed the air.  
  
There was smoke looming in the air from the fire that had been put out. Logan also managed to pick up the faint smell of blood, along with a rich, spicy musk that hung all over the place.  
  
"Thank God that punk wears too much Old Spice."  
  
"Ze'yre here?" Kurt spoke, smiling.  
  
"Naw, passed by a half an hour ago, but…" he took in a long sniff and opened wide eyes, 'Scott was with him. Injured I think." Logan turned in a full circle, closing his eyes and listening to all the clues nature was providing him with.  
  
"They head that way, towards the road that goes through the woods." He turned to face Kurt, "Can you get us there?"  
  
Kurt nodded, grabbed the man's hand and faced in the direction he pointed.  
  
The few nocturnal animals that dwelled in that area jumped as smoke and an obnoxious fume invaded their territory.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"They're about a half a mile away from us, Professor. We can land in that clearing and walk the rest of the way."  
  
"Yes. I can only sense fifty or so. But they have already sent for help. A few more men are on their way. Via air I believe. Ororo." Charles faced the wind goddess, "Could you create a bit of turbulence for them?"  
  
She nodded, walking towards the back of the blackbird and exited the jet through the top.  
  
Charles watched her as she took of into the skies and concealed herself with a veil of fog.  
  
"X-men," he looked at each child in turn, "We are not here to start a fight, merely to end one. We will get Scott back, and prove that we mean no harm. Do not use your powers to hurt them unless it becomes absolutely necessary. Do each of you understand?" they nodded, some reluctantly and some with vigor, "Good. Beast, take us down."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Joe approached a fuming David reluctantly.  
  
"David, we just got word from the back up forces. Due to this sudden storm they had to turn back. There was no place they could land and be discreet. We're on our own."  
  
"What about Hutton?"  
  
"He's still on his way, David. He should be here soon."  
  
"I don't want soon!" David threw the cup he was holding across the room and it landed in a hundred pieces. The glass flew and shards landed all over the room. David noticed one landed by the completed helmet for detecting mutants. In a calmer voice he questioned the younger man.  
  
"Why can't was use that to find the freak, again?"  
  
Joe pointed towards the dark sky.  
  
"The storm, it's too dangerous to use anything that requires too much electricity."  
  
"Damn it! Where could that old guy be?"  
  
The door to the room was thrown open as an elderly form walked into the room.  
  
"There was a time, old friend, that you would address me by name and not "old guy." Richard lectured as he approached his long time friend.  
  
David stood to embrace the old man.  
  
"How are you, Richard?"  
  
"Well…"Richard seemed to look David over, then at Joe, and then all around the room. No weapons were in sight, which made David for the most part harmless, "I'm quite all right, but it appears," he waved with his hand to some figure behind him and two figures walked through the door. One, who kept his head downcast, was carrying a figure draped in a trench coat far too big. The other, the mutant that had killed one of his own, carrying a bleeding and unconscious young man, "It appears that my companions are a bit worse for wear."  
  
David tried to get to Scott, but was kept back by a single pat on the chest by the old man.  
  
"That temper of yours is terrible, David. Calm it down before I make you. Besides, these two saved my life, I owe them."  
  
The young man turned on his friend.  
  
"Owe them?? Their mutants! Freaks! Scum of the earth! Don't you remember what Friends of Humanity is all about??"  
  
"David." Richard tried to calm him.  
  
"No. Joe, get me some armed men in here now. Get these freaks in chains now."  
  
Joe nodded and moved toward the door.  
  
"I don't dink so, mon ami."  
  
Remy glared at him and put down Rogue on a nearby table. The cards he carried in his pocket were in his hands and waited to be thrown as he charged them.  
  
The glow illuminated the darkened room and everyone in it.  
  
"Remy don' wanna hurt nobody. But de only reason he come here is so chere will get a bit of medical attention, non? So nobody leave dis room until a doctor come in and take care of her. Comprenezvous?"  
  
Richard raised his hands to placate the boy, "All right, Mr. LeBeau. David, why don't you get on that?"  
  
David was currently keeping up a glaring contest between himself and the teen leader of the X-men.  
  
"I'm not going to let one of my men actually help these mutant freaks."  
  
Scott set the man he was carrying down besides Rogue and gently sat her up. The charge Remy was lighting the room with clearly showed her sleeping features to the man.  
  
"What about your own daughter?"  
  
David nearly choked on his own breath as he saw her face. It was so much paler than it had ever been, white even bathed in red light. It was cold in the room, and every slow breath she took was a thin ribbon of vapor.  
  
He was jolted from his reverie as the sound of many stomping feet over powered the quiet night.  
  
"Mutants in the woods! Fire! Fire!"  
  
Richard stood in front of David.  
  
"Call your men down, David. We don't need to fight them."  
  
The middle-aged man tore his gaze away from the face of his daughter and glared at his long time friend.  
  
"We are going to capture of kill each and everyone of these mutants."  
  
Remy flung a handful of cards at the man's feet and watched the continued charging. Before they could blow up Scott removed his glasses and vaporized all the cards. He turned to Remy.  
  
"Don't. Let's get out of here and help the others." He moved toward the door.  
  
"What about chere?"  
  
Scott glared over his shoulder at David, 'She's going to be just fine and patched up before were done taking down all of these men." He looked at Remy again, "But we're not gonna kill anybody."  
  
Scott exited, and Remy followed suit. Richard was in the middle of pushing a stunned Joe out of the room. The old man stopped,  
  
"David, for once, do the right thing. It's not too late to stop hiding from your own kid. You won't be getting another chance." He smiled at Joe, 'Come one, boy, show me where you're hiding the medical supplies around this dump and you might just come out of this thing unhurt."  
  
David watched as they left before finally turning again to his daughter.  
  
He slowly approached her, watching her breath coming in and out.  
  
There was a chair in front of the table she was lying on and he pulled it out and sat on it, watching her, and thinking of what to do with himself.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Jeez I hate guns!" Kitty yelled as she slipped through another man with gun trained on one of her fellow mutants. As she phased through she managed to grab all of the bullets out and sent them flying into the woods. She smiled watching as the guy stared down at his now useless gun in amazement.  
  
The other X-men were doing well against the other men.  
  
The newer recruits were working together to contain about twenty-five men. The Beast sent men flying into an unconscious heap as he flung his muscular arms at them. Evan kept shooting his spikes at the weapons, sending them flying out of men's hands.  
  
She smiled, this mission was a lot easier than it had sounded and there were only a few scratches and bruises on a few of the more careless members of the x-men.  
  
"Kitty!"  
  
The voice that she knew was the one and only Cyclopes came from behind her. She spun around and saw him approaching her.  
  
He looked terrible in a torn shirt with some cuts exposed, but he was for the most part fine which was all she needed to know. When he was close enough she hugged him and squealed with relief  
  
"Oh my gosh! Scott! You're okay!"  
  
"Yeah, I'm just great. Kitty, where's the professor?"  
  
She looked around and pointed the smallest building in the clearing.  
  
"He was over there looking for you about two minutes ago."  
  
"Thanks, Come on, Remy let's go find him."  
  
The Cajun nodded and took after the teen boy. But not before he winked at Kitty who giggled as he ran past.  
  
Not a single man from Friends of Humanity was left standing. They were all huddled in a pile and slowly being caged in my either ice or a wall of magma.  
  
Scott smiled; proud of the way the X-men handled the potentially dangerous situation. He was so beaming with pride that he didn't notice the small figure creeping up besides the building.  
  
A very sick looking Sandra held the gun up with a shaky hand as she aimed at the running Scott. She aimed at his head and pulled on the trigger.  
  
Seconds seemed to melt into hours as the bullet slowly left the chamber. Sandra was knocked back by an unnatural wind of some sort. The gun went flying from her hands, but the bullet was well on its way towards its victim.  
  
"Scott!"  
  
He turned to face the one who had called his name, giving the bullet a nice target of the back of his head. Before he could see who had called him he felt himself being knocked down by a very tall, redhead girl. As his head went down so did the arm that was pushing him.  
  
The bullet missed Scott but managed to tear through the shoulder of Jean Gray.  
  
Scott grunted as he landed on the ground with an added weight landing on his chest.  
  
The force of the fall also sent his glasses flying of his face. Both fortunately and unfortunately he happened to be looking past everyone at the building he had just exited.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It was cold; Rogue knew that from the unwillingness of her cheeks to move and the lack of warmth throughout her entire body. She shook her head, trying to shake out the heaviness but only succeeded in making herself a bit dizzier.  
  
She finally decided to sit up and find out exactly why she had fallen asleep in the first place.  
  
"If that boy uses that "warm-fuzzy" feeling thing on me again, I swear I will…" she finally looked up to see an exact copy of her eyes looking at her.  
  
A man, in his middle forties she guessed, was sitting in front of her just staring into her eyes.  
  
His hair was the same coppery brown.  
  
There were specific white streaks growing on the side of his head that resembled hers.  
  
His face had the same angles as her own. There was no mistaken who this man was.  
  
"David, right?"  
  
He nodded, "There was a time you called me dad."  
  
She sat up all the way and swung her legs over the table. A splitting headache ripped through her skull, but it didn't stop her from glaring.  
  
"I would still be callin' ya dad if ya hadn't or left me with Irene."  
  
Her obvious intent to hurt him didn't faze him as he continued to smile at her.  
  
"I didn't think it would bother me so little actually standing here close to you."  
  
Rogue pushed herself a little ways away form the man.  
  
"What are ya talkin' about?"  
  
"You're a mutant…but it seems so stupid to think about that now that you're actually here in front of me." He stood from his seat and stood up tall, "I really missed you, Ann Marie."  
  
She crossed her arms.  
  
"My name is Rogue. And it's too late for sorr-."  
  
There was a single, thundering shot before the familiar sound of Scott's beam going off reached her ears. That was seconds before the wall of the room came clattering down on the both of them.  
  
Using some long dormant parental instinct David lunged at Rogue and covered her with his own body as concrete and piping came spilling in on them.  
  
Though for the most part she was covered his cheek still managed to touch her own.  
  
Memories of his flooded her mind. Hate for mutants, rooting from his encounter with her mother, Mystique. Happiness from the common everyday things of fatherhood. Picnics, playtime, and the first time he ever saw her. All these memories flowed from his mind to her own. Then sadness as he left her mother, and then finally abandoned her. They kept coming and coming, until for no apparent reason, they stopped.  
  
She felt his final breath on his ear, and the last beat of his heart.  
  
The last sentiment that she could clearly pick from his mind was directed towards her.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Eventually Richard managed to get everything straitened out. FOH became nonexistent, as it's founder stopped endorsing it. The mutants were safe from predators for a while.  
  
The X-men kept their conquest in the woods of Bayville of secrets from the prying eyes, but it was quite a story they had to set up about the fires and the massive destruction done to the forest.  
  
It was hard to clean up as well.  
  
The two buildings the Scott destroyed were intricate piles of metal and concrete. They decided to leave the first building Scott knocked down alone, but lives were depending on their ability to clean up the other one.  
  
Hours after it came crashing down the team managed to spot the three persons inside. Rogue had been awake when they found her, saved from harm by the human shield. He was dead, killed by a piece of metal through his stomach, not to mention the prolonged touching of skin between himself and Rogue.  
  
As they were pulling her out of the debris she couldn't find words to express what she had gone through in the hours they had been digging. She had been forced to sit in the dark and feel the weight of her dead father pressing against her. His memories and emotions had kept her somewhat sane, but the experience would haunt her forever.  
  
The driver was also pulled out of the building no worse for wear aside from the gash on his head.  
  
There was a funeral for David, which was only attended by a few. Rogue decided to come only because it seemed as if Richard was on the verge of breaking down. But during the burial the two found themselves leaning on each other for help.  
  
The old man left the following day and Rogue returned to her life at the mansion.  
  
Jean had been a sore subject for weeks. The others were never told about her attempts on Rogue's life, only Ororo, Logan, Hank, and the professor knew. But they all took it easy on her as she did save Scott's life by risking her own. Her shoulder blade was injured from the bullet, but after a few months she was able to play sports again.  
  
The two girls avoided each other in the halls and around meal times. Only after several weeks of therapy with the Professor did Jean finally start to calm down. She managed to apologize to Rogue and began acting as friendly towards her as she was towards all of her friends.  
  
Remy was doing so well in the mansion. He stayed with Rogue, attended school with her, but enough was enough. He had come to Bayville trying to make a new start with his life, but the whole "good-guy" routine wasn't working. Danger sessions ended in Remy blowing the door open and leaving before the sequence could end. He never listened to the Beast, and his smoking habit drove the teachers and students crazy. At times it seemed the only reason he stuck around was to be near Rogue.  
  
There was something more than friendship between the two, for sure. And just because she couldn't kiss didn't mean that Remy didn't stop trying.  
  
But, he knew he couldn't stay away from his New Orleans forever.  
  
The winter was coming to a close and he missed the hot springs and summers. His mind was made up. On a morning in late January he approached Rogue who was sitting by the fire reading one of her Ann Rice novels.  
  
He teasingly pulled on her hair to get her attention. She looked up at him and smiled. Remy was surprised by the lack of make up on her face. He had of course seen her without it, at the beginning when he had saved her from Duncan and then again from Jean, but never intentionally.  
  
"Chere get tired of purple, non?"  
  
She punched his legs and pulled him down to the floor.  
  
"Ah just got tired of hiding behind that make-up. Ah used to wear it because I liked to, but now…" she shrugged, "I don't want to hide what I am anymore."  
  
He gave her a lopsided grin, "Just so long as you don' go showin' off yo mutant powers, Remy is fine wit it."  
  
"You're too kind, LeBeau."  
  
She smiled and looked past his shoulder at the bags that were at his feet. Rogue looked at his red black eyes.  
  
"You goin' somewhere?"  
  
"Oui. Back To New Orleans."  
  
She pushed away from him a bit and looked at the fire in front of her.  
  
"You leavin' because of me?"  
  
"Come on, petite. You are de only ting keepin' Remy here. Remy's not cut out to be a hero, it just not working." He saw the sad look on her face and pulled her around to face him, "You don wanna get close to ol' Remy anyway. If you dink people getting' too close to you is dangerous, but I don want Chere to see what happens to people who get too close to Remy."  
  
He smiled sadly at her as he ran a gloved hand through her hair.  
  
Tears were about to spill over her green eyes, but he pulled her into a strong hug.  
  
"Don you be thinkin' dat we ain't gonna see each other again, girl. We got some'tin good here, non?"  
  
She smiled and pressed her face into his chest. He gave her one final squeeze before he stood up, picked up his bag and walked out of the room.  
  
Rogue watched as he walked out, and heard the door shut on his way out. She ran to the window just in time to see Logan's favorite motorcycle being driven through the snow and out the gates. She pressed her hand against the glass and blew a kiss with the other.  
  
"See you someday, Swamp Rat."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Epilogue  
  
  
  
  
Two years passed quickly in the mansion.  
  
Jean and Scott declined going to college and stayed at the mansion to help with the X-men. Everyone was convinced that the main reason they didn't head off for colleges was the fear that they wouldn't be together. But everyone also had a haunting suspicion about the what the diamond ring that Jean sported on her finger meant. The two were inseperable, so the professor foudn away for them to continue their studies. They were forced to take on-line classes and the professor had to hire a tutor or two but it was well worth it to keep his two original X-men.  
  
Life at the mansion was as it always was, except for one specific Gothic girl who was finding herself more and more strangled by the adolescent hormones running though the institute.  
  
Rogue covered her ears as she passed by two fighting mutants and picked up her mail on the kitchen table. She rummaged through it as she walked up the stairs to hers and kitty's room.  
  
She was only too glad to see her hyper roommate wasn't there so she could get in some private time. Rogue pulled her now long hair into a sloppy bun letting the white bangs fall in front of her face and flopped on her bed.  
  
"Hi, dad." She greeted the picture of David on her bed stand. Richard had sent her a few of David's things over the years. Although she really couldn't bring herself to love the father that abandoned her she felt connected to him through the memories he had given her that horrible night years ago.  
  
The mail seemed nothing out of the ordinary. Cell phone bill, letters from the army asking her to be part of the army of one. Some pamphlets from colleges that she had no intention of going to. College was a hard decision for the mutant. She had no idea what she wanted to study and no campus seemed to interest her. Just that morning the Professor had been lecturing her about dead lines for applications and what not. She shook her head and through all college related material on the ground. The final letter caught her attention; it was a black envelope with "The Rogue" written in red.  
  
She smiled, reminded of a certain Cajun mutant as she ripped open the envelope and read the letter within. Her grin widened as she read and by the time she was through she was all but bouncing of her bed.  
  
Immediately she called out to the professor as he had taught her to.  
  
'What is it, Rogue?'  
  
'Well…I was thinkin', how does the University of Louisiana sound for college?' she let out a rare giggle and held a playing card that had been included in the envelope. She brought the King of hearts to her lips and kissed it.  
  
"See you soon, Swamp Rat."  
  
  
  
  
  
Theendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheendtheend  
  
Wow, it's finally done. Thanks for all the encouragement from everybody and sorry it took so long. I typed for so long this weekend trying to finish this in time for the one-year mark, but it didn't work. Sorry, we'll have to settle for the day after. THANK YOU!! 


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